On 03/02/15 16:44, Andrea Faulds wrote:
> Sure, but I don’t think we shouldn’t cripple the language merely for the sake 
> of really low-end embedded devices. Also, I’m not convinced that the 
> overhead, at least in terms of file size, is really that big of an issue.

'I don’t think we should cripple' ?

There are two views on the handling of integers. Obviously it would be
nice if there was no limit to the size of a number and there are
situations where that is indeed useful. However there are equally
situations where both the natural 32bit and 64bit limits of the target
hardware and software needs to be observed and these require a different
method of handling things like 'overflow'. Simply automatically
upgrading an integer value to a more complex object depending on what
hardware one is running on adds the overhead of having to create code to
disable things depending on some hardware flag.

With the bulk of SQL persistent data having to manage both 32 and 64bit
integer limits and the matching float/numeric limits, a system of
working which mirrors that would naturally seem to be the sensible
default. If those limitations have been avoided by the use of additional
libraries, then a matching additional library in PHP also comes into play.

Currently we have a problem with the size of integers, but simply
ignoring that there are limits is not the may to fix that problem.

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Lester Caine - G8HFL
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