[gecode-users] int vs. unsigned int for Matrix dimensions

[Gregory Crosswhite]

Okidoke;  thanks for the explanation!  :-)

Also, is this list the best way to talk to the developers of Gecode?

Thanks,
Greg

On 1/16/11 1:10 PM, Christian Schulte wrote:
> Hi Gregory,
>
> You are touching a slightly weird aspect of Gecode... The choice of int as
> opposed to unsigned int for the Matrix class is actually deliberate. This
> choice is not only done for Matrix but for many other datastructures that
> are defined by Gecode (for example, VarArray, ViewArray, etc). I know that
> the choice of unsigned int sounds more appealing but we have made the
> opposite decision and try to be as consistent with the choice of int rather
> than unsigned int.
>
> There are two reasons. The first is simple and maybe is not even very
> convincing. The average loop written to iterate over arrays etc is typically
> an int and not an unsigned int. To avoid compiler warnings, Gecode follows
> in this. Then, the second reason (possibly not more convincing than the
> first one) is that integer variables take int values and very often array
> access is wrt a value included in the domain of an integer variable. Here we
> go.
>
> We tried to use unsigned int but it was in fact just too painful (lots of
> explicit casts in order to avoid warnings). Changing int to unsigned int and
> be consistent about that change would be a massive effort with little gain.
>
> I know. Sad but true.
>
> Cheers
> Christian
>
> --
> Christian Schulte, web.ict.kth.se/~cschulte/
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: users-bounces at gecode.org [mailto:users-bounces at gecode.org] On Behalf
> Of Gregory Crosswhite
> Sent: Friday, January 14, 2011 6:26 PM
> To: users at gecode.org
> Subject: [gecode-users] int vs. unsigned int for Matrix dimensions
>
> Hey everyone,
>
> Is there a reason why the Matrix class uses "int" for the type of its
> dimensions instead of "unsigned int"?  If there isn't a reason not to
> use "unsigned int" for the type of the dimensions, then may I submit a
> patch or something to change it to use "unsigned int"?
>
> Thanks!
> Greg
>
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