Time for 64-bit longs?

[bzs at bu-cs.bu.EDU]

From: "Wilson H. Bent" <whb at vax135.uucp>
>This is not really a 128-bit pointer, this is a structure with many parts.

You missed my point (so to speak), I was using the struct to describe
a 128 bit pointer to an audience of C programmers.

For example, A char * in C on a DEC20 has (had?) a similar segmented
structure and could be described by a struct, but you really had to
carry it around in a single char * to get the correct machine code
generated, there were special machine instructions for dealing with
such objects such as ILDB and the only correct way to deal with them
was as a char *, not a struct.  (well, 'correct' meaning other than
excessive bit hacking behavior.) If you didn't have 36-bit pointers
the compiler would be crippled even tho it might appear that 18-bits
was sufficient to address every word in memory (let's ignore extended
addressing on the KL for the moment.)

In sum: I really meant a pointer.

	-Barry Shein, Boston University