Timeline for Why are there so many numeric types (bit, int, float, double, long)?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
8 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 25, 2013 at 23:42 | comment | added | HorusKol | It depends on the system - those controllers only had a few KB of memory, and most of that was given over to the program. | |
| May 25, 2013 at 19:18 | comment | added | James | I think the overriding factor is CPU ability and performance rather than memory concerns | |
| May 25, 2013 at 6:35 | comment | added | HorusKol | that's true in a lot of architectures - but bits were directly addressable in really old systems, and even some more recent embedded systems (some controllers I programmed only 10 years ago worked with bits - those only had about 64 addressable locations of specific widths). Nowadays, I guess compilers work it out and put them into byte-arrays. | |
| May 25, 2013 at 6:33 | history | edited | HorusKol | CC BY-SA 3.0 | added caveat about embedded systems |
| May 25, 2013 at 6:14 | comment | added | jk. | What system used only 1 bit to store a bit? bits usually aren't directly addressable | |
| May 25, 2013 at 5:49 | comment | added | 9000 | Not only 'back before', but also 'now when a system is small'. On an device the size of Arduino one has to be economical. | |
| May 25, 2013 at 5:43 | comment | added | Vinay | nice answer +1. | |
| May 25, 2013 at 5:36 | history | answered | HorusKol | CC BY-SA 3.0 |