Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!im4u!ut-sally!nather From: nather@ut-sally.UUCP (Ed Nather) Newsgroups: comp.arch Subject: Re: negative addresses (really unsigned arithmetic) Message-ID: <11571@ut-sally.UUCP> Date: 11 May 88 17:23:39 GMT References: <2393@uvacs.CS.VIRGINIA.EDU> <9485@apple.Apple.Com> Organization: U. Texas CS Dept., Austin, Texas Lines: 19 In article <9485@apple.Apple.Com>, bcase@Apple.COM (Brian Case) writes: > In article <2393@uvacs.CS.VIRGINIA.EDU> wulf@uvacs.CS.VIRGINIA.EDU (Bill Wulf) writes: > > >...as far as I can tell, the primary (only?) use > >of unsigned arithmetic is for address computations. > > Yeah, same here, unless it's for some obscure purpose or is supported > directly by the source language. Your CS background is showing, gentlemen. When I gather data from stars, I count the precious photons one at a time, and use unsigned arithmetic to massage them, since there are no negative photons (unlike negative addresses). I wouldn't classify this as an obscure purpose, but someone else might. -- Ed Nather Astronomy Dept, U of Texas @ Austin {allegra,ihnp4}!{noao,ut-sally}!utastro!nather nather@astro.AS.UTEXAS.EDU