On Nov 26, 2025, at 9:55 AM, Thiago Macieira via Std-Proposals <std-proposals@lists.isocpp.org> wrote:

On Wednesday, 26 November 2025 08:27:39 Pacific Standard Time David Brown
wrote:
Would that make the 512-bit integer the "ludicrously long" and 1024 go
"plaid"? :-)

We are onto "Space Balls The Movie" now, aren't we?  Can we look up the
VHS version of C++29 to see how it all ends?  :-)

Oh, why didn't we think of just fast-forwarding!

I remember reading an April Fool's proposal for adding new integer sizes
to C, using combinations of "long" and "short" to get different sizes -
like a "short long int" would be 24 bits.  Unfortunately I am unable to
find it again.

https://wg21.link/p0989 - Standardizing Extended Integers

short long int j; // (1 + 1/0.5)(32) = 48 bits
short int -> 16 bits
long short int -> 24 bits
long long short int -> 28 bits
long long long short int -> 30 bits

Has this been taken to EWG yet?

I would like to suggest an additional type, this focuses on requesting specific precisions but it lacks a mechanism for simply getting the maximum supported size. I think this paper should be extended with a type to get that maximum supported precision, I propose

longest long -> widest supported integer type

I think this will be useful for many use cases as people can write generic code that automatically works on the widest supported precision rather than having to use a pile of template misery to find the widest type. Including being able to easily write safe multiplication by using `(short longest long) * (short longest long)` and similar.

—Oliver

(Credit to Ryan M for the spelling - not including his complete name because he may not actually want anyone to ever find his name next to this :D :D :D)


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Thiago Macieira - thiago (AT) macieira.info - thiago (AT) kde.org
 Principal Engineer - Intel Data Center - Platform & Sys. Eng.
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