Re: [avr-gcc-list] Is this a Bug??????

[Jeff Dairiki]

On Wed, 31 Jul 2002 08:21:17 -0400
Lorne Gutz <address@hidden> wrote:

> Well then I figured out a work around.  I declared
> timer_flag as volatile, and BOB's your uncle, it
> works.

Well, that's hardly a "work-around" :-)
That's precisely what the "volatile" keyword is for.

Without the "volatile", the C compiler thinks timer_flag is
a regular variable, and optimizes away any repeated loads
from it.  Think about it: if "x" is a regular variable
and you have code which references "x" multiple times,
like:
   var1 = x + 2;
   var2 = x * 2;
   var3 = x + var2;
you wouldn't want the compiler to generate assembly code 
to load x from ram for each of those operations
(especially if those operations were in a loop).

"Volatile" is the only way the compiler has of knowing
when a variable might change value due to effects
outside of the "normal program flow".
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