Re: [MacPerl] Bitwise not operator.

[Matthias Ulrich Neeracher <neeri@iis.ee.ethz.ch>]

Folks, I have the impression this topic is getting out of hand. Basically,
the facts are:

 - Perl5 sometimes does calculations using (fast) 32 bit signed integers,
   sometimes using (slower) floating point values. Perl4 *always* stored
   numerical values as floating point.
 - Artithmetic and comparison operations are done on a case-by-case basis,
   while bitwise operations and shifts are always done on integers.
 - The exact rules on when to use integer and when floating point had
   numerous mistakes in early releases of Perl5 and thus in MacPerl 5.0.7r1m.
   Under much howling & gnashing of teeth, they are getting fixed one by one,
   so newer releases, notably MacPerl 5.1.0r2 (beta), have a somewhat more
   sane behaviour.
 - In some areas, notably time values, MacPerl has to use unsigned ints where
   Unix Perl uses signed ints.
 - Macintosh math libraries sometimes convert floating point values
   (especially negative ones) differently than Un*x math libraries do.

So, keep those bug reports coming, but I don't think there is much of a point
in discussing them much.

Matthias

-----
Matthias Neeracher   <neeri@iis.ee.ethz.ch>   http://www.iis.ee.ethz.ch/~neeri
   "I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation
    by reorganizing;  and a wonderful method it can be for creating the
    illusion of progress while producing confusion,  inefficiency,  and
    demoralization."              -- Petronius Arbiter (circa A.D. 60)