Is malloc() or calloc() "better"?

[Jim Patterson]

In article <17067 at onfcanim.UUCP> dave at onfcanim.UUCP (Dave Martindale) writes:
>  I've seen people who use
>calloc to zero their allocated arrays or structures assume that
>"all bits zero" is the proper value for floating-point zero -
>definitely not true on all machines.

I'm compiling a list of such machines, but it's still empty.  Can you
enlighten us as to what some of these machines are? Do they have C
compilers? Is all-bits-zero actually invalid (i.e. will cause a trap
of some sort), or is it just not the "preferred" representation of
zero?  (I suspect that many BCD floating-point implementations won't
even bother to check in the interests of efficiency, and so will end
up getting it right anyways).

I also agree that zero-filled memory isn't (maximally) portable, but I
still don't know what machines it's not portable to.
-- 
Jim Patterson                              Cognos Incorporated
UUCP:decvax!utzoo!dciem!nrcaer!cognos!jimp P.O. BOX 9707    
PHONE:(613)738-1440                        3755 Riverside Drive
                                           Ottawa, Ont  K1G 3Z4