Re: Last bits of the basic math semantics

[Dan Hursh]

Leopold Toetsch wrote:
Dan Sugalski <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
 rotl Pdest, n, 32        # rotate left in place by n 32-bitwise

These have merit. The only question then is what happens with the
rest of the bits. (If one rotates a 64 bit quantity with a 32-bit
rotate)

First, we should probably ask HLL designers. I can imagine two options:
1) rotate whatever is there - don't care about higher bits
2) if higher bits are non-zero, throw an exception
context->errors can hold a bit to turn on/off 2)
How about a context->freakish that would allow
    rotl Pdest, n, 5     # rotate 5 lowest ordered bits leaving
                         # the others untouched
    rotl Pdest, n, 5, 6  # skip 6 lowest order bits, rotating
                         # next 5 lowest ordered bits, leaving
                         # the others untouched
I'd offer a practical justification, but I have none.  It just feels 
cool and still allows for optimizing the real world cases.

Dan