Public Comment Number PC-UK0121 ISO/IEC CD 9899 (SC22N2620) Public Comment =========================================== Date: 1998-02-25 Author: N.M Maclaren Author Affiliation: Self Postal Address: University of Cambridge, Computer Laboratory, New Museums Site, Pembroke Street, Cambridge CB3 3QG, United Kingdom E-mail Address: Telephone Number: +44 1223 334761 Fax Number: +44 1223 334679 Number of individual comments: 1 Comment 1. Category: Request for information/clarification Committee Draft subsection: 6.1.2.8.2 Title: Multiple integer representations and precision Detailed description: There is a very nasty trap here, that interacts badly with 6.2.1 Arithmetic operands and other parts of the standard. The wording does not require all integers to use the same representation which is, I suppose, reasonable. I haven't worked out all the consequences, and am not sure that I want to, but I think that the current wording is a hostage to fortune. For example: 1) What does 'precision' mean in 6.2.1.1 Characters and integers, for two types of the same size but different representations? 2) Consider the problem of converting 0x8000 between twos' complement and signed magnitude (in both directions). Frankly, I don't see how to resolve this simply, except by requiring an implementation to use the same representation for all integer data types. But that is not a trivial restriction. However, SOMETHING must be said about this problem.