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Groups > comp.sys.acorn.programmer > #5927

Re: BASIC oddity?

Subject Re: BASIC oddity?
Newsgroups comp.sys.acorn.programmer
From Alan Adams <alan@adamshome.org.uk>
Date 2020-01-04 16:22 +0000
Message-ID <a2bf222d58.Alan.Adams@ArmX6.adamshome.org.uk> (permalink)
References (1 earlier) <582cb030b8News03@avisoft.f9.co.uk> <quoa19$o6o$1@dont-email.me> <ef3ac02c58.Alan.Adams@ArmX6.adamshome.org.uk> <qupq4i$4nf$1@gioia.aioe.org> <582d216fd8News03@avisoft.f9.co.uk>
Organization Orpheus Internet Services

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In message <582d216fd8News03@avisoft.f9.co.uk>
          Martin <News03@avisoft.f9.co.uk> wrote:

> On 04 Jan in article <qupq4i$4nf$1@gioia.aioe.org>,
>    Steve Drain <steve@kappa.me.uk> wrote:
>> druck wrote:

<snip>

> 2.  Alan said
>> The weird example is the third, where subtracting a very large
>> positive number from a very large negative number produces a
>> positive result.
> But this result is not weird, it is correct - because as they are
> both UNSIGNED it is subtracting a very large number from an even
> larger number. The result is a small number, which is correct.

> The strange thing about 2's complement arithmetic is that it works
> for both signed and unsigned numbers. The first 4 bytes of a 5-byte
> time block are unsigned, so cannot be regarded as negative. It even
> works when the MSB 5th byte has changed, as the last example shows.

> So, I would suggest that using
>     I% = !buf1%
>     J% = !buf2%
>     K% = I%-J%
> will suffice to calculate a time difference of a few days in cs.

That agrees with what I found. It even seems to work in a case where the 
5th (highest) byte is incremented.

The thing I found surprising is that BASIC displays the values in I% and 
J% using a signed interpretation, but does the subtraction in an unsigned 
fashion. It's this inconsistency that worries me, in case at some future 
date is is "corrected".

> ... unless anyone can see the flaws in my argument!



-- 
Alan Adams, from Northamptonshire
alan@adamshome.org.uk
http://www.nckc.org.uk/

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Thread

BASIC oddity? Alan Adams <alan@adamshome.org.uk> - 2020-01-03 17:16 +0000
  Re: BASIC oddity? Martin <News03@avisoft.f9.co.uk> - 2020-01-03 19:31 +0000
    Re: BASIC oddity? druck <news@druck.org.uk> - 2020-01-03 21:00 +0000
      Re: BASIC oddity? Alan Adams <alan@adamshome.org.uk> - 2020-01-03 22:26 +0000
        Re: BASIC oddity? Steve Drain <steve@kappa.me.uk> - 2020-01-04 10:40 +0000
          Re: BASIC oddity? Martin <News03@avisoft.f9.co.uk> - 2020-01-04 16:08 +0000
            Re: BASIC oddity? Alan Adams <alan@adamshome.org.uk> - 2020-01-04 16:22 +0000
              Re: BASIC oddity? David Higton <dave@davehigton.me.uk> - 2020-01-04 17:24 +0000
                Re: BASIC oddity? Alan Adams <alan@adamshome.org.uk> - 2020-01-04 18:47 +0000
                Re: BASIC oddity? Matthew Phillips <spam2011m@yahoo.co.uk> - 2020-01-06 08:58 +0000
                Re: BASIC oddity? David Higton <dave@davehigton.me.uk> - 2020-01-06 16:20 +0000
                Re: BASIC oddity? Matthew Phillips <spam2011m@yahoo.co.uk> - 2020-01-07 08:49 +0000
                Re: BASIC oddity? Martin <News03@avisoft.f9.co.uk> - 2020-01-07 11:20 +0000
                Re: BASIC oddity? David Higton <dave@davehigton.me.uk> - 2020-01-07 15:05 +0000
                Re: BASIC oddity? Matthew Phillips <spam2011m@yahoo.co.uk> - 2020-01-08 08:23 +0000
                Re: BASIC oddity? Alan Adams <alan@adamshome.org.uk> - 2020-01-08 10:26 +0000
                Re: BASIC oddity? druck <news@druck.org.uk> - 2020-01-08 21:02 +0000
                Re: BASIC oddity? Richard Ashbery <basura@invalid.addr.uk> - 2020-01-09 12:53 +0000
                Re: BASIC oddity? Steve Fryatt <news@stevefryatt.org.uk> - 2020-01-09 23:16 +0000
                Re: BASIC oddity? Steve Fryatt <news@stevefryatt.org.uk> - 2020-01-08 22:35 +0000
                Re: BASIC oddity? Martin <News03@avisoft.f9.co.uk> - 2020-01-08 23:51 +0000
          Re: BASIC oddity? Steve Drain <steve@kappa.me.uk> - 2020-01-10 11:30 +0000
            Re: BASIC oddity? Alan Adams <alan@adamshome.org.uk> - 2020-01-10 12:38 +0000
      Re: BASIC oddity? Jean-Michel <jmc.bruck@orange.fr> - 2020-01-06 20:39 +0100
        Re: BASIC oddity? Alan Adams <alan@adamshome.org.uk> - 2020-01-06 21:13 +0000
          Re: BASIC oddity? Steve Drain <steve@kappa.me.uk> - 2020-01-08 12:46 +0000

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