PROPOSAL: Unsigned Integer Widening Operator

[Bruce Chapman]

Noel Grandin wrote:
> I would think that a utility class that performed widening operations,
> and maybe some other useful stuff would be preferable to extending the
> language/
>
> Perhaps a BinaryMath class to live alongside java.lang.Math?
>
> Regards, Noel.
>
>   

There is some truth to that. BUT on the other side of the ledger there 
are two operators that add extra bits to the left of a value. Right 
shift has two forms, one to sign extend and one to zero extend, whereas 
widening only has a sign extend form of the operator (which is the unary 
+ operator if you are wondering). Adding a zero extend widening makes 
the language consistent.

Also it is worth considering that the zero extend widening operator is 
(hopefully) sufficiently succinct, and gives the impression of being 
sufficiently cheap that the perceived wisdom for effective unsigned byte 
manipulation might become to always apply the operator to variable and 
array accesses.  This would reduce bugs. I don't think a method call 
would have that same subconscious effect. You'd tend to only use the 
method where it was actually needed, and you'd sometimes get that 
decision wrong.

Bruce

> Bruce Chapman wrote:
>   
>> Title
>> Unsigned Integer Widening Operator
>>
>> latest html version at http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dcvp3mkv_2k39wt5gf&hl
>>
>> AUTHOR(S): Bruce Chapman
>>
>> OVERVIEW
>>
>>
>>
>> FEATURE SUMMARY:
>> Add an unsigned widening operator to convert bytes (in particular), 
>> shorts, and chars (for completeness) to int while avoiding sign extension.
>>
>>     

SNIP