pointer -> long conversion - (nf)

[jim at ism780b.UUCP]

#R:bbncca:-83100:ism780b:25500012:000:563
ism780b!jim    Jul 23 10:59:00 1984

> Although signed addresses are unconventional,
> it turns out that they cause no problems whatsoever,
> and they removed the need to perform 32-bit unsigned arithmetic
> as a special case within the machine for address calculation.

So NULL points to the middle of the address space?  And the loader origin
for programs is -0x7fffffff-1, which can't be expressed properly as
a negative number without breaking most software?  Or does no one use
the first byte?  I'm not sure I believe this "no problems whatsoever".

-- Jim Balter, INTERACTIVE Systems (ima!jim)