Apparently unsigned types really are necessary

[Marco Leise]

Am 22.01.2012, 08:23 Uhr, schrieb bcs <bcs at example.com>:

> On 01/21/2012 10:05 PM, Walter Bright wrote:
>> http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3495283
>>
>> and getting rid of unsigned types is not the solution to signed/unsigned
>> issues.
>
> A quote from that link:
>
> "There are many use cases for data types that behave like pure bit  
> strings with no concept of sign."
>
> Why not recast the concept of unsigned integers as "bit vectors (that  
> happen to implement arithmetic)"? I've seen several sources claim that  
> uint (and friends) should never be used unless you are using it for low  
> level bit tricks and the like.

Those are heretics.

> Rename them bits{8,16,32,64} and make the current names aliases.

So everyone uses int, and we get messages like: "This program currently  
uses -1404024 bytes of RAM". I have strong feelings against using signed  
types for variables that are ever going to only hold positive numbers,  
especially when it comes to sizes and lengths.