Re: RBB: Realy Big Bitvector

From: Kenneth G. Cavness (stargoat@tic.com)
Date: 12/08/95


On Wed, 6 Dec 1995, Jaco van Iterson wrote:

> As a matter of fact a char consists of exactly 8 bits (a byte), numbers are
> stored in a char by setting this bits on or off. Each bit has a value and
> by adding this values together you get the number the char represents.
> The values of the bits are: 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 and 128 (or -128 for signed).
> Other ways to represent this numbers are: 2^0, 2^1, .... 2^7  (or -2^7).
> and 1<<0, 1<<1, .... 1<<7. I prefer this last one (same for signed and unsigned)

*argh*

* I know how the bit system works! *

the RBB's were intended to be an *emulator* of bits; if you're going to 
remain confused, I suppose I could call it CFS(Compacted Flag System), 
but I can call it whatever you need as long as you are aware that I 
*know* how many bits are in a byte, how many bytes in a word, et etc on 
non-supercomputer machines.

I also know how bitfield operations work.

This would be an _em-u-la-tor_, which means that its operations would 
_mimic_ that of bitvectors and flags, and would _also_ try to keep said 
emulation in as short of an amount of memory as possible.

I am aware also of the tradeoffs between efficiency and speed and memory. 
This is an age-old debate.

I'm not a new coder. Please recognise this and speak to me on the basis 
of that knowledge. Whether or not this system would impact speed or 
efficiency, I am choosing *at this moment* to center in on what would 
least impact memory. In such a case, making an algorithm to not have 8 
flags take up 1 byte would be very nice. 

Now, are there _any_ workable ideas for this, or should I just ditch it 
based on the grounds that it's not possible? Work with this on the 
grounds that memory _is_ a factor, and speed/efficiency are less in the 
priorities.

--
Kenneth G. Cavness                  |   http://ccwf.cc.utexas.edu/~cavness
Associate Editor                    |   "That which is possible is not always
MIDS, TIC                           |    probable." -- Isaac Asimov
1-512-451-7602                      |   "What about the Tuna?" -- Unknown



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