4 ms·
Since we're less than a decade away from the doomsday point, I wonder if it would be easier to transition from signed to unsigned 32 bits, as it would buy every
by giovannibonetti 3y ago
Since we're less than a decade away from the doomsday point, I wonder if it would be easier to transition from signed to unsigned 32 bits, as it would buy everyone multiple decades to transition to something else.
Also, this first transition should be less disruptive than any other one, since the unsigned format is backwards compatible with the current signed one in its current usage (positive numbers).
- 6031769 3y agoThe epochalypse is well over a decade away.
- Someone 3y ago> since the unsigned format is backwards compatible with the current signed one in its current usage (positive numbers). For existing binaries (many of them burned in ROM) it is that much compatible that it will also break at the same time as the current system. So, you need new binaries. If you do, why limit yourself to 32 bits? Also, I’m not sure all current usage is for positive numbers, only. Using time stamps for datetimes isn’t what you should do, but chances are older software does it, anyways, because memory was expensive up to the 1980s, and those dates may have been before 1970.