bignums (was: Pushing the `gnus-range-*' functions down into the C layer)

[Ted Zlatanov]

On Fri, 10 Sep 2010 16:28:36 +0200 Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <address@hidden> 
wrote: 

LMI> Ted Zlatanov <address@hidden> writes:
>> If everything was inside a num64-* namespace and a num64.el package,
>> it's a pretty easy implementation. 

LMI> I think for bignums to be interesting, they'd have to be native in
LMI> Emacs.  It'd suck if you had a number, but had to say

LMI>   `(num64+ num1 num2)'

LMI> if it's a bignum, and

LMI>   `(+ num1 num2)'

LMI> if not.  To take a random example.

I understand.  But because of this argument we still don't have bignums,
because it's such a big project to do at once.

IMHO it's easier to get them in somehow and then adapt the C built-ins
like + and > to use them.  It won't break existing code either, which
native support probably will as you mentioned.

Ted