I'd say the only "generational" part is that in this example the question has made it to the web. Who wouldn't wonder, when first leaning about two's complement

I'd say the only "generational" part is that in this example the question has made it to the web. Who wouldn't wonder, when first leaning about two's complement, if unsigned plus sign (one's complement) might be preferable? I'd rather question the mind of people who never went through that phase. And the people who, in the early days, opted for one's complement for the hardware they designed certainly did not do so because of being too far from the metal. Both representations coexisted for a while, sometimes within the same system.