The use of unsigned int

[The Grey Wolf]

In article <1255 at tredysvr.Tredydev.Unisys.COM> paul at tredysvr.Tredydev.Unisys.COM (Paul Siu) writes:
>The most commonly use, and commonly returned type in C is probably int.  
>In some cases, wouldn't it be more appropriate if unsigned int was used
>instead, such as when you are indexing an array, or returning a length?

I've had occasion to use a signed int as an array index before; I don't
think it's that uncommon.  Unsigned ints are warranted in certain places,
but int seems to be more versatile (you don't have to muck about with
whichever value a failed system call returns).  Also, as has been pointed out,
the difference between signed and unsigned int on a two's-complement
machine (most are these days) is purely semantic.

>Paul Siu
>paul at tredysvr.tredydev.unisys.com


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