From 5481746203063860116 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: fc772,8d9af67f0c48e4ef X-Google-Attributes: gidfc772,public X-Google-Thread: f78e5,8d9af67f0c48e4ef X-Google-Attributes: gidf78e5,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2002-04-30 09:52:08 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!paloalto-snf1.gtei.net!crtntx1-snh1.gtei.net!denver-snf1.gtei.net!news.gtei.net!namche.sun.com!news2me.EBay.Sun.COM!engnews1.eng.sun.com!taumet!clamage From: Barry Margolin Newsgroups: comp.std.c++,comp.lang.c++.moderated Subject: Re: Unsignedness of size_t Date: 29 Apr 2002 22:41:32 GMT Organization: Genuity, Woburn, MA Lines: 35 Approved: stephen.clamage@sun.com (comp.std.c++) Message-ID: References: <3CC7DB8F.52E75D62@bawi.org> NNTP-Posting-Host: taumet.eng.sun.com X-NNTP-Posting-Host: netlab.cs.rpi.edu X-Original-Date: Mon, 29 Apr 2002 17:57:05 GMT X-Submission-Address: c++-submit@netlab.cs.rpi.edu X-Auth: PGPMoose V1.1 PGP comp.lang.c++.moderated iQBVAwUAPM3AzkHMCo9UcraBAQFvUQH/SQKbw0hvzfHFvetfq+HBmSNNkKp3TvcE 43mwtqfski2bPAhb/+qPyR8FoYpTmLDhmWv2Zp4Lbw/beUzRbp9DLg== =xTOO X-Approved-For-Group: kuehl@fmi.uni-konstanz.de comp.lang.c++.moderated X-Scanned-By: MIMEDefang 2.3 (www dot roaringpenguin dot com slash mimedefang) Content-Length: 1483 X-Status: $$$$ X-UID: 0000000001 Originator: clamage@taumet Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.std.c++:10908 comp.lang.c++.moderated:42397 In article <3CC7DB8F.52E75D62@bawi.org>, Sungbom Kim wrote: >I often find it somewhat "flawed" that the standard requires the data >type representing sizes of objects to be an unsigned integral type. > >They are just arithmetic quantities, like 'number of people'; no one >would recommend using unsigned numbers for those kind of quantities. Why not? You can't have objects with negative size, just as you can't have a class in school with a negative number of students. Unsigned types are appropriate for variables that can only hold non-negative values. Since the maximum value of an unsigned type is usually twice that of the corresponding signed value, making size_t unsigned allows for larger objects. I suspect this was the main rationale for this choice, not the modular arithmetic semantics. -- Barry Margolin, barmar@genuity.net Genuity, Woburn, MA *** DON'T SEND TECHNICAL QUESTIONS DIRECTLY TO ME, post them to newsgroups. Please DON'T copy followups to me -- I'll assume it wasn't posted to the group. [ Send an empty e-mail to c++-help@netlab.cs.rpi.edu for info ] [ about comp.lang.c++.moderated. First time posters: do this! ] [ comp.std.c++ is moderated. To submit articles, try just posting with ] [ your news-reader. If that fails, use mailto:std-c++@ncar.ucar.edu ] [ --- Please see the FAQ before posting. --- ] [ FAQ: http://www.jamesd.demon.co.uk/csc/faq.html ]