Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!ukma!uflorida!haven!adm!smoke!gwyn From: gwyn@smoke.BRL.MIL (Doug Gwyn ) Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple Subject: Re: Long and short integers Message-ID: <8972@smoke.BRL.MIL> Date: 24 Nov 88 02:51:36 GMT References: <8811231856.AA01000@crash.cts.com> Reply-To: gwyn@brl.arpa (Doug Gwyn (VLD/VMB) ) Organization: Ballistic Research Lab (BRL), APG, MD. Lines: 32 In article <8811231856.AA01000@crash.cts.com> pnet01!pro-simasd!pro-exchange!rich@nosc.mil writes: >1. In a single byte value, the MSB/LSB position is arbitrarily determined >when the chip is manufactured, and there is *no* general rule. The Apple II >series (6502) happens to use the format wherein the MSB is the first/leftmost >bit, whichever term you prefer. This is nonsense. The 6502 transfers 8 bits of data to/from memory in parallel. There is no "first" bit, and which is "leftmost" I suppose depends on whether you're looking into the top of your Apple II from the left side of the case or the right. >2. The Apple can only deal with 8-bit (single byte) numbers. It takes >software to handle anything requiring more than 1 byte of storage. Therefore, >the method of storing multi-byte numbers is strictly software dependent. More nonsense. Several 6502 operations involve 16-bit address arithmetic, and the 65816 has a 16-bit accumulator (and 24-bit addressing). There is no reason to consider address arithmetic as distinct from accumulator arithmetic for the 65xx architecture. >Bottom line - there's no general rule that applies to any computer, except >that in each type, the bit-order will be consistent within each byte, That's an untestable assertion. Infra-byte "bit order" (whatever that means; have you seen the way RAM is organized?) is not visible to the programmer. >Everything else is up to the programmer -- gripe at her! > ^ > Note use of non-sexist language above ---| And a final piece of nonsense. That is about as sexist as one could imagine.