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Re: unsigned int

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Les Cargill <lcargill99@comcast.com> writes:

> David Brown wrote:
>> On 02/08/16 16:35, Les Cargill wrote:
>>> David Brown wrote:
>>>> On 02/08/16 01:20, Les Cargill wrote:
>>>>> Ben Bacarisse wrote:
>>>>>> Les Cargill <lcargill99@comcast.com> writes:
>> <snip>
>>>>> While it's implementation dependent, it's unusual for "unsigned" to be
>>>>> the actual default - unless overridden.
>>>>
>>>> I think that is a wild generalisation, without basis in fact - unless
>>>> you can point us to a list of compilers, targets, and the signedness of
>>>> their chars.
>>>
>>> Hence "unless overridden". The defacto, default standards for the 'C'
>>> language are "char is a smaller int" and "ints are signed by default."
>>>
>>> The Standard obviously doesn't say one way or the other. But the
>>> historical critical mass of the language is towards the way I say.
>>
>> There is /no/ standard here - defacto, default, or otherwise.
>
> I simply have to disagree. The default 'C' int declaration is signed
> unless it's explicitly made unsigned.
>
> That people choose to override that default is neither here nor there.
> It's baked into the declaration syntax of the language.

That's not borne out by the history of C.  Even before there were
unsigned types, char could be unsigned.  In the 1974 C manual for the
PDP-11 it is explained that the sign bit is propagated when using a char
where an int is expected but a note says that "the sign-propagation
feature disappears in other implementations".  Thus char could be, in
effect, unsigned before there were even any unsigned ints (and before
the syntax for signed and unsigned types appeared).

But I'm curious about why you care about what might or might not be some
de-facto default.  In all the decades I've been using C, I don't recall
ever caring if char was signed or not.

-- 
Ben.

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Re: unsigned int "Osmium" <r124c4u102@comcast.net> - 2016-07-31 12:40 -0500
  Re: unsigned int David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2016-08-01 11:01 +0200
    Re: unsigned int James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2016-08-01 10:15 -0400
    Re: unsigned int Les Cargill <lcargill99@comcast.com> - 2016-08-01 09:59 -0500
      Re: unsigned int David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2016-08-01 17:21 +0200
        Re: unsigned int Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2016-08-01 09:55 -0700
          Re: unsigned int David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2016-08-01 22:42 +0200
            Re: unsigned int supercat@casperkitty.com - 2016-08-01 14:18 -0700
        Re: unsigned int Les Cargill <lcargill99@comcast.com> - 2016-08-01 13:11 -0500
          Re: unsigned int Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2016-08-01 19:46 +0100
            Re: unsigned int Les Cargill <lcargill99@comcast.com> - 2016-08-01 18:20 -0500
              Re: unsigned int David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2016-08-02 10:18 +0200
                Re: unsigned int Les Cargill <lcargill99@comcast.com> - 2016-08-02 09:35 -0500
                Re: unsigned int Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2016-08-02 08:00 -0700
                Re: unsigned int Les Cargill <lcargill99@comcast.com> - 2016-08-02 11:12 -0500
                Re: unsigned int David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2016-08-02 17:11 +0200
                Re: unsigned int Les Cargill <lcargill99@comcast.com> - 2016-08-02 11:55 -0500
                Re: unsigned int supercat@casperkitty.com - 2016-08-02 10:16 -0700
                Re: unsigned int David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2016-08-03 14:02 +0200
                Re: unsigned int Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2016-08-03 08:58 -0700
                Re: unsigned int James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2016-08-02 13:57 -0400
                Re: unsigned int Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2016-08-02 19:30 +0100
                Re: unsigned int Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2016-08-02 11:38 -0700
                Re: unsigned int David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2016-08-03 14:12 +0200
                Re: unsigned int David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2016-08-03 13:45 +0200
          Re: unsigned int Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2016-08-01 12:02 -0700
            Re: unsigned int David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2016-08-01 23:01 +0200

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