[Rd] 64bit integers

[Simon Urbanek]

Tony,

Dirk sent a good response. I would like to add to that that it goes beyond just bits in SEXP: adding a new type involved in arithmetics is not only a lot of work but has performance implications. Also it is unclear how it should behave in the int32_t, double, int64_t triangle of vector classes in that respect (they don't nest) while retaining compatibility (doubles promote because they are a superset, but int64_t cannot do that). I am yet to see a real use-case where 53-bits are not sufficient in integer arithmetics so it is unclear that opening that big can of worms (and breaking things) would have any benefit. Typically, the only use-case for full 64-bit integers is as opaque 64-bit storage (e.g., randomly generated IDs) but there arithmetics make no sense there and packages are already covering that need.

Cheers,
Simon


> On Jan 25, 2025, at 11:08 PM, Tony Wilkes <tony_a_wilkes using outlook.com> wrote:
> 
> Hi everyone,
> 
> I heard somewhere that Core R is developing the implementation of true 64bit integers.
> Is this true? If so, may I know what the status is of this development, and when, approximately, one can expect 64bit integers to be available in R?
> 
> Thank you for your time!
> 
> Kind regards,
> 
> Tony
> 
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