From: tkoenig@netcologne.de   
      
   MitchAlsup  schrieb:   
   >   
   > anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) posted:   
   >   
   >> Thomas Koenig  writes:   
      
   >> >>C programmers changed the programs to run on   
   >> >> I32LP64 (this was called "making them 64-bit-clean").  And until that   
   >> >> was done, ILP32 was used.   
   >> >   
   >> >The problem with 64-bit INTEGERs for Fortran is that they make REAL   
   >> >unusable for lots of existing code.   
   >   
   > Nonsense::   
   >   
   > CDC  only had Double Precision FP data (60-bit)   
   >      with 18-bit integers   
   > CRAY only had Double Precision FP data (64-bit)   
   >      with 24-bit integers   
      
   By the time the 64-bit workstations appeared, vector computers   
   were very much on the way out, and people had long since gotten   
   used to 32-bit reals and 64-bit floating points.  Making a 64-bit   
   integer would have required a 128-bit double precision, and you   
   know how popular that is - only one vendor has it, and there it   
   is more of an additional of their decimal float unit, and hence   
   very slow (but still faster than software emulation).   
      
   >   
   > {{Even numerical analysists liked Seymore's 60-bit and 64-bit arithmetic   
   > compared to 32-bit IBM and 36-bit Univac FP arithmetic--even with those   
   > littered with huge mistakes we would not allow today.}}   
   >   
   >> The size of FORTRAN INTEGERs is something the FORTAN people have to   
   >> decide, and I made no statement on that.   
   >>   
   >> If FORTRAN programs make the assumptions that sizeof(int)==4, maybe   
   >> you should tell the FORTRAN programmers something along these lines:   
   >> "it is a standards violation, anyway.  Only people who like to play   
   >> these kind of games are caught."   
   >   
   > FORTRAN programmers think of integer as 1 storage container--even on   
   > CDC and CRAY.   
      
   That's what the standard says.   
      
   >The integer in memory is 60 or 64 bits, the integer in   
   > register is 18-bit or 24-bit. FORTRAN programmers do not have problems   
   > with putting 6×6-bit characters in PDP-10 memory container, or 10×6   
   > field-data characters in one CDC memory container.   
      
   Most of them have learned to use CHARACTER by now, it's only been   
   47 years :-)   
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