Konstantin Preißer made an interesting discovery, after reading my article “PHP Hangs On Numeric Value 2.2250738585072011e-308”: Java — both its runtime and compiler — go into an infinite loop when converting the decimal number 2.2250738585072012e-308 to double-precision binary floating-point. This number is supposed to convert to 0x1p-1022, which is DBL_MIN; instead, Java gets stuck, oscillating between 0x1p-1022 and 0x0.fffffffffffffp-1022, the largest subnormal double-precision floating-point number.

Send a Java Program Into An Infinite Loop

Compile this program and run it; the program will hang (at least it does on a 32-bit system with the latest JRE/JDK):

class runhang { public static void main(String[] args) { System.out.println("Test:"); double d = Double.parseDouble("2.2250738585072012e-308"); System.out.println("Value: " + d); } }

Send the Java Compiler Into An Infinite Loop

Try to compile this program; the compiler will hang:

class compilehang { public static void main(String[] args) { double d = 2.2250738585072012e-308; System.out.println("Value: " + d); } }

Where’s the Problem?

For the runtime case at least, Konstantin has narrowed the problem down to the “correction loop” in FloatingDecimal.java. See his comments on my PHP bug analysis article.

Like PHP, Java gets stuck crossing the normalized/unnormalized border, but in the opposite direction: it starts with an estimate just below DBL_MIN — 0x0.fffffffffffffp-1022 — and is trying to get up to DBL_MIN. but with a twist: it starts with an estimate that is correct — DBL_MIN — and then adjusts it to 0x0.fffffffffffffp-1022. It then adjusts that back to DBL_MIN, and around it goes…

Bug Report

Konstantin reported this problem to Oracle three weeks ago, but is still waiting for a reply. (Update: as per Konstantin’s comment below, the bug has been assigned “internal review ID of 1949967, which is NOT visible on the Sun Developer Network (SDN)”.)

Update: Previous Bug Reports Describe the Same Problem

Readers found two bug reports that describe the same problem (although not in terms of the magic number 2.2250738585072012e-308): bug number 100119 from 2009, and bug number 4421494 from 2001. (But don’t bother clicking on that last one — the link is now dead, as of 2/3/11.)

Addendum

As pointed out in the comments below, equivalent forms of the number cause the problem as well; examples:

0.00022250738585072012e-304 (decimal point placement)

00000000002.2250738585072012e-308 (leading zeros)

2.225073858507201200000e-308 (trailing zeros)

2.2250738585072012e-00308 (leading zeros in the exponent)

2.2250738585072012997800001e-308 (superfluous digits beyond digit 17)

Update: Discussion on the Web

Check out these links for more discussion of the bug:

Update: A Fix Was Released

On 2/8/2011, Oracle released a fix.