Q62269: Two Fixed-Length Strings 32K Long in COMMON Hang QuickBASIC

Article: Q62269
Product(s): See article
Version(s): 4.00 4.00b 4.50
Operating System(s): MS-DOS
Keyword(s): ENDUSER | B_BasicCom buglist4.00 buglist4.00b buglist4.50 | mspl13_basic
Last Modified: 18-OCT-1990

The following two-line program hangs QB.EXE and QBX.EXE:

   COMMON A AS STRING * 32760
   COMMON B AS STRING * 32760

When run, the line and column counters at the bottom-right corner of
the screen will be set to 1, the message "Binding" will be displayed
at the bottom-left corner, and the machine will be hung, requiring a
soft reboot. If running in the DOS compatibility box of OS/2, only the
DOS box will be hung.

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the QB.EXE environment
of Microsoft QuickBASIC versions 4.00, 4.00b, and 4.50; in the QB.EXE
environment of Microsoft BASIC Compiler versions 6.00 and 6.00b for
MS-DOS (buglist6.00, buglist6.00b); and in the QBX.EXE environment of
Microsoft BASIC Professional Development System (PDS) versions 7.00
and 7.10 for MS-DOS (buglist7.00, buglist7.10). We are researching
this problem and will post new information here as it becomes
available.

The problem does not occur in programs compiled with BC.EXE.

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