Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!rutgers!mailrus!ncar!ames!think!bloom-beacon!ZERMATT.LCS.MIT.EDU!RWS From: RWS@ZERMATT.LCS.MIT.EDU (Robert Scheifler) Newsgroups: comp.windows.x Subject: Re: Xtk "unsigned int" typedefs considered harmful Message-ID: <19880926232355.6.RWS@KILLINGTON.LCS.MIT.EDU> Date: 26 Sep 88 23:23:00 GMT Sender: daemon@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU Organization: The Internet Lines: 11 In the Intrinsics implementation to be shipped by MIT in R3, Position is "short" and Dimension is "unsigned short". The types were changed to shorts to conserve space (widgets are relatively expensive). To give protocol-equivalent value ranges on 16-bit architectures, Dimension cannot be "short". Programmers should not depend on whether Position and Dimension are 16 or 32 or 64 bits, but they should know that Position is signed and Dimension is unsigned. The use of unsigneds as cardinals is probably "the wrong thing" (you don't have to argue too loudly, I know how many times it's bitten us in the server), but it is consistent with the Xlib interface, and the space savings in using shorts is useful.