Re: [boost] Infinite precision integer draft

From: Sebastian Redl (sebastian.redl_at_[hidden])
Date: 2006-05-28 07:11:51

Bronek Kozicki wrote:

>In other words, if you can 
>"infinitely" extend given positive number towards +inifnity, does it make any 
>sense to disallow its extension past zero? It makes me think that concept of 
>"unsigned integer with infinite precision" is self-contradictory.
>  
>
No, it's not. Precision and signedness have nothing to do with each 
other. The main (only, really, when it comes down to it) difference 
between a signed and an unsigned integer is that an unsigned integer is 
defined never to have a value less than 0. There are very valid reasons 
to enforce such a restriction, even when you want no upper limit (the 
term infinite precision is not really appropriate for integers).

Sebastian Redl