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Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.carno.net.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!news.rmit.EDU.AU!news.unimelb.edu.au!munnari.OZ.AU!news.ecn.uoknor.edu!news.wildstar.net!serv.hinet.net!news.uoregon.edu!europa.chnt.gtegsc.com!gatech!news-out.communique.net!communique!hunter.premier.net!news.maxwell.syr.edu!howland.erols.net!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!uchinews!not-for-mail From: eric@fudge.uchicago.edu (Eric Fischer) Subject: Re: Year 2000 problem? X-Nntp-Posting-Host: fudge.uchicago.edu Message-ID: <E9GGp7.1w3@midway.uchicago.edu> Sender: news@midway.uchicago.edu (News Administrator) X-Newsposter: Pnews 4.0-test51 (15 Jan 97) Organization: The University of Chicago References: <3365F634.794BDF32@jnet.vi> <5k52ha$2nr@lace.colorado.edu> <01bc54d3$9d98ca00$6601a8c0@teds.portsoft.com> <5k66ro$r9l@lace.colorado.edu> Date: Wed, 30 Apr 1997 14:39:07 GMT Lines: 16 Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:40040 Frank Crary <fcrary@rintintin.Colorado.EDU> wrote: > Typically it's a 32-bit integer, but that's not a requirement of Unix > operating systems (the machines Unix was written on back in 1972 certainly > didn't use 32-bit integers...) Given how quickly technology is improving, > any one who is still using 32-bit bit registers in 2032 would deserve > what they get. Sixth Edition Unix and earlier represented the time as an array of two 16-bit integers. This was represented in memory identically to the 32-bit integer that started being used for time when the "long" type was added to the C compiler. This, by the way, is why time() takes a pointer argument -- it wasn't possible at the time to have a 32-bit return value from a function. eric