Re: Overloading of assignment

[billwolf@hubcap.clemson.edu (William Thomas Wolfe,2847,)]

From article <3667@hubcap.UUCP>, by billwolf@hubcap.clemson.edu (William Thomas Wolfe,2847,):
#  In the case of integers, for example, we typically have the range
%     31    31                            31        31
%   -2  .. 2  - 1; this would shrink to -2  - 1 .. 2  - 1, using the
%                       31
$  liberated value of -2  as our representation of "undefined", and
$  rendering the range of an integer symmetrical, thus eliminating
$  the problem of having -1 * MAXINT raise a NUMERIC_ERROR.
                                                    31         31
   Technical corrections: the new range would be -(2  - 1) .. 2  - 1,
                          and -1 * MIN_INT would no longer raise
                          NUMERIC_ERROR (or CONSTRAINT_ERROR or whatever).