Newsgroups: comp.arch Path: utzoo!henry From: henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) Subject: Re: negative addresses Message-ID: <1988May10.180715.1836@utzoo.uucp> Organization: U of Toronto Zoology References: <2393@uvacs.CS.VIRGINIA.EDU> Date: Tue, 10 May 88 18:07:15 GMT > ... I'm trying to remove unsigned > arithmetic from WM, and as far as I can tell, the primary (only?) use > of unsigned arithmetic is for address computations. Soooooo... I've thought for a long time that unsigned arithmetic is basically a relic of the 16-bit days, when the difference between 15 and 16 really mattered, and that the difference between 31 and 32 is much less significant. I don't see any compelling need for unsigned arithmetic on a 32-bit machine with 31-bit addresses or signed addresses... except that several of the newer programming languages, notably C, absolutely require it. -- NASA is to spaceflight as | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology the Post Office is to mail. | {ihnp4,decvax,uunet!mnetor}!utzoo!henry