lint, pointers, 0 (what else?)

[Jim Scardelis]

> Indeed? And what about the 8086, or worse yet, 8088? A full pointer
> is a 20 bit address which must be specified by a 32 bit value  (a
> 16 bit offset and 16 bit segment which overlap for all but 4 bits!).
> Add to that the 8088, which has 16 bit registers but does transfers
> 8 bits at a time. What is the "natural" choice for an int on these
> machines, and why should it have anything at all to do with their
> pointer architecture?
> 
> 
> Ken Mitchum
> cadre.ARPA

The 'natural choice' is sixteen bits if you go by the iAPx86 builtin
integer size for mathmatics....but actually that should only hold for
Small memory model programs. The large model programs should really
use a 32 bit int, because of the pointer size...it seems that most of the
C code I've seen assumes that a pointer is an int...

...like the netnews software that I'm having a *devil* of a time getting
up on an IBM PC/AT (80286 chip)...

				Jim Scardelis

-- 
    "The opinions expressed herein are those of my computer, and are not 
		necessarily mine, or those of my employer."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
UUCP: {vax135|ihnp4}!timeinc!jim		AT&T: (201) 843-0022 (business)
ARPA: 1891 at NJIT-EIES.MAILNET@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA
USNAIL: P.O. Box 244
	Little Falls, NJ 07424-0244
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------