Re: [RFC][PATCH] fix abs() macro to work with types wider than int

From: Randy Dunlap
Date: Wed Apr 25 2007 - 11:37:34 EST


John Anthony Kazos Jr. wrote:
I think it's like it is just to be consistent with abs() in C,
which also contains labs() and llabs().
We actually had labs() before (few months ago), but since it was not used, and if it would it seemed better to just fix abs(), it was removed. So I think this is the appropriate way to go.
Sounds like when someone actually needs labs() or llabs()
they can submit a patch for however they would like to use it.

However they would like to use *abs()? What different ways are possible to take the arithmetic absolute value? I see record of many cases where dozens of authors have macros that then get collapsed to include files. So why not avoid that annoyance this time and -start- with it in the include files?

Can there even be any reason beyond unnecessary pedantics to have [l[l]]abs?

See Paragraph 1 above. We do lots of functions in a manner that is
like C (or libc) so that we don't confuse developers.

--
~Randy
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