Re: Prevalence of Compilers for Which Integer'Size < 32?

[bobduff@world.std.com (Robert A Duff)]

In article <dmarshalDv8t9y.Bq8@netcom.com>,
Dave Marshall <dmarshal@netcom.com> wrote:
>type Seconds_In_A_Day is range 0 .. 86_400;
>
>This is going to work fine for compilers for which Integer'Size is 32,
>but it will fail for compilers for which Integer'Size = 16.  

No, that's not quite right.  The largest integer range supported has
nothing to do with the range of Integer.  A compiler could have:

    type Integer is range -2**15..2**15-1;

and still support:

    type Seconds_In_A_Day is range 0 .. 60*60*24;

(Why does everybody in this thread like literals so much?)

or:

    type Huge_Positive is range 1..10**100; -- unlikely, I admit

So the *real* question you want to ask is, "Do all compilers support at
least 32-bit integers?"  Well, I don't know for sure, but I certainly
assume that in the code I write.  I simply wouldn't buy a compiler that
didn't (even for a 16-bit machine).

I believe that all versions of GNAT support 64-bit integers.

- Bob