erlc question, why no error message for erronous code?

[Chris Pressey]

On Tue, 3 Jun 2003 13:15:33 +0200 (CEST)
Joe Armstrong <joe@REDACTED> wrote:

> [...]
> Many years ago I was programming some hardware - I wanted to send
> an illegal command to the hardware.
> 
> The software would not allow this. I asked the compiler writer why I could not
> send a op code 23 to the hardware - he said "you can't it's illegal"
> 
>   I said  - "but I want  to test the hardware  - see if  the red light
> goes on when you send it an illegal command"
> 
>   He said, "you can't send an illegal command to the hardware"

Perfect place for a compile-time warning, though...

warning: line 123: this code is fubar, but hey, you're the boss!

-Chris