On February 9, 2015 8:40:29 AM EST, Beman Dawes
What is gained by using the buffer types rather than always just using the arithmetic types?
Assurance than hidden conversions are not performed. This is of overriding importance to users concerned about achieving the ultimate in terms of speed.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ "highest speed" would suffice.
"Always just using the arithmetic types" is fine for other users. When the ultimate in speed needs to be
You inverted the logic there.
ensured, the arithmetic types can be used in the same design patterns or idioms that would be used for buffer types, resulting in the same code being generated for either types.
The latter confuses me a bit. The arithmetic types can, obviously, be used in the same cases as for the buffer types, but the obvious reason to prefer the arithmetic types by default is for the flexibility the implicit conversions and extra operators afford. ___ Rob (Sent from my portable computation engine)