On Sun, Aug 17, 2008 at 09:16:29PM +0200, Andrea Denzler wrote:
I may add that C/C++ have different integer sizes on different platforms adding even more confusion. I understand that a basic int has the size of the processor register, but when I handle and store data values I want to
"The size of processor register" has become very vague with the arrival of AMD64. Registers are 64-bit, but the default operand size is 32-bit. 64-bit integer arithmetic requires an extra instruction prefix.. So, in a sense, 32-bit integers are still the most efficient integer datatype even on AMD64 (and indeed, "int" is 32-bits). AMD64 is just an example that first comes to mind; there are probably other similar architectures...
That's why a class (or new standard integer types) handling those confusions is really welcome. Until now I rely on crossplatform integer sizes (uint16,
OK, I might start to write some code in my free time soon.. If for nothing else, then to experiment with the Boost.Operators library and playing with numeric traits. (and because I like to code in assembler :-)) In the first round, the class will only support x86/AMD64; in the second round I will apply the black magic from "Hacker's Delight" and write it portably.