On 12/11/12 10:20 AM, eles wrote:
Hello,
The previous thread, about the int resulting from operations on bytes,
rised me a question, that is somewhat linked to a difference between
Pascal/Delphi/FPC (please, no flame here) and C/D.
[snip]
There's a lot to be discussed on the issue. A few quick thoughts:
* 32-bit integers are a sweet spot for CPU architectures. There's rarely
a provision for 16- or 8-bit operations; the action is at 32- or 64-bit.
* Then, although most 64-bit operations are as fast as 32-bit ones,
transporting operands takes twice as much internal bus real estate and
sometimes twice as much core real estate (i.e. there are units that do
either two 32-bit ops or one 64-bit op).
* The whole reserving a bit and halving the range means extra costs of
operating with a basic type.
Andrei
