On 2017-03-20, at 20:18, Steve Smith wrote:
> On 3/20/2017 20:58, Paul Gilmartin wrote: >> Please don't reply with "Subject:...Digest..." > Sorry... I wish I remembered to do that, but I usually don't. >> >> On 2017-03-20, at 17:45, Steve Smith wrote: >> >>> Two's-complement is an amazingly great way for binary computers to store >>> negative numbers. It is not so great for humans to read or write. First >>> of all, you have to know where the sign bit is, and X expressions are >>> ambiguous. If you watch carefully, you'll see that HLASM (almost) always >>> left-fills to 32 bits (with 0s), so if you intend to specify -1, then you >>> must write X'FFFFFFFF'. >>> >> Why not just write -1? > I would. You could. This was for those who really, really, want to pound > the square peg into the round hole. >> >>> It would have been nice if different conventions were chosen back in the >>> dark ages, instead of conflating X strings with hex numbers. But it isn't >>> nice, and you might as well learn how it works, and learn to live with it. >>> >> The consequences of that have pervaded this thread. > Sure, and there's value in discussing them. But for generating RFEs and > requirements, it's appropriate (it's necessary) to consider the costs as well > as the benefits. My take (and implication) is that the costs vastly outweigh > the benefits. >> >> -- gil >> > sas
