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From: bayes@hpislx.HP.COM (Scott Bayes)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: Re: Spleen venting (was: Re: 32-bit OS)
Message-ID: <10910003@hpislx.HP.COM>
Date: 25 Aug 89 20:37:25 GMT
References: <1456@draken.nada.kth.se>
Organization: HP Measurement Systems Operation - Loveland, CO
Lines: 13

> Is this point so hard for you to understand -- that 16 bits is a low
> limit which very many real programs will hit in the real world, while
> 32 bits is a high limit which most real programs can treat as an
> effective infinity?

Except for file systems. It's only 2GB (4 GB unsigned), and bytes are
a reasonable file system resolution level. My own OS will run up against
the 32 bit boundary soon, what with big discs, magneto-optical discs, etc.

Tim is right: once the long boundary is hit, an application can't do
diddly with a quad, unless we support it in the OS routines.

Scott Bayes