Wanted: 128 bit integers

[Alex Rønne Petersen]

On 14-03-2012 17:49, Jonathan M Davis wrote:
> On Wednesday, March 14, 2012 10:57:03 Manu wrote:
>> On 14 March 2012 02:37, Alex Rønne Petersen<xtzgzorex at gmail.com>  wrote:
>>> On 14-03-2012 01:34, Paul D. Anderson wrote:
>>> The D language specifies 128-bit integers: cent and ucent. They just
>>> aren't implemented yet...
>>
>> Why aren't they implemented in a library for the time being at least, so
>> code can compile and work?
>
> I believe that what it really comes down to is that cent and ucent were set
> aside just in case they would be needed with no specific plans to do anything
> with them. So, they'll probably be implemented eventually, but they're
> definitely not a priority. And if you really need larger integers, then there's
> BigInt. Prior to the 64-bit ports of dmd (which are fairly recent), dmd wasn't
> even on any architectures that supported 128 bit integers anyway.
>
> - Jonathan M Davis

There aren't really any platforms that natively support 128-bit 
integers, even today. The most "support" you'll get is SIMD-like 
extensions, but those aren't necessarily useful for implementing 128-bit 
integers.

So, most likely, the compiler would just have to unroll 128-bit 
operations just as it does for 64-bit operations on 32-bit targets.

-- 
- Alex