Re: Using the GNU GMP Library for Bignums in Emacs

[Siraphob (Ben) Phipathananunth]

Richard Stallman wrote:
> To eliminate the current types for small integers would
> require rewriting of much of the C code in Emacs.
> It would be better to represent small integers as now,
> and have a different structure for larger integers.

From what I understand, we would want to use fixnums by default in the
C code, and convert to bignums automatically (in lisp) when the number
exceeds the range of a fixnum, while retaining behavior as before,
using the regular math operations + - * / (and more) to interface this
to Lisp.

Paul Eggert wrote:
> programs wouldn't care whether an integer is represented via fixnum or
> bignum, as it'd be an issue merely of efficiency.

Would it not slow down computation to have to constantly convert
between the two types? (especially if the computation is switching
above/below the fixnum/bignum boundary). In such a case, a fix could
be to convert lisp numbers exceeding fixnum limits to bignums for the
rest of the number's life (until GC). This ensures memory usage is kept
low for fixnum computations.