Wild branch
Overview
 
In computer programming
Computer programming
Computer programming is the process of designing, writing, testing, debugging, and maintaining the source code of computer programs. This source code is written in one or more programming languages. The purpose of programming is to create a program that performs specific operations or exhibits a...

, a wild branch is a description of a GOTO
Goto
goto is a statement found in many computer programming languages. It is a combination of the English words go and to. It performs a one-way transfer of control to another line of code; in contrast a function call normally returns control...

 instruction where the target address is indeterminate, random or otherwise unintended. It is usually the result of a software bug
Software bug
A software bug is the common term used to describe an error, flaw, mistake, failure, or fault in a computer program or system that produces an incorrect or unexpected result, or causes it to behave in unintended ways. Most bugs arise from mistakes and errors made by people in either a program's...

 causing the accidental corruption of a pointer, index
Index (information technology)
In computer science, an index can be:# an integer that identifies an array element# a data structure that enables sublinear-time lookup -Array element identifier:...

 or array
Array data type
In computer science, an array type is a data type that is meant to describe a collection of elements , each selected by one or more indices that can be computed at run time by the program. Such a collection is usually called an array variable, array value, or simply array...

 subscript. It is "wild" in the sense that it cannot be predicted to behave consistently. Detection of wild branches is frequently difficult; they are normally identified by erroneous results (where the unintended target address is nevertheless a valid instruction enabling the program to continue despite the error) or a hardware interrupt, which may change depending upon register
Processor register
In computer architecture, a processor register is a small amount of storage available as part of a CPU or other digital processor. Such registers are addressed by mechanisms other than main memory and can be accessed more quickly...

 contents.
Quotations

"There's naught, no doubt, so much the spirit calms as rum and true religion." -- Lord Byron

"The chief fuddling they make in the island is Rumbullion, alias Kill-Divil, and this is made of sugar canes distilled, a hot, hellish, and terrible liquor". -- 17th Century account

"Fifteen men on the dead man's chest-Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!" -- Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island

"Don't talk to me about naval tradition. It's nothing but rum, sodomy, and the lash." -- Attributed to, and denied by, Winston Churchill

"Where I go, I hope there's rum" - Jimmy Buffett

"But why's the rum gone?" - Johnny Depp as "Captain Jack Sparrow", The Pirates of the Carribean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

"Hide the rum." - Johnny Depp as "Captain Jack Sparrow", The Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest

"I prefer rum. Rum is good." - Captain Jack Sparrow, Pirates of the Caribbean:At World's End

 
x
OK