>If you are thinking of the PDP-11, the natural size was 16 bits.  The
>32 bit longs weren't too painful because the 11 has add with carry and
>subtract with borrow instructions, and it does 16x16->32 multiplies and
>32/16->16 divides.  I suspect most of our 32 bit platforms don't have
>the equivalent capabilities.

If I'm not mistaken, all Intel processors have these capabilities: add
with carry, subtract with borrow, 32x32->64, and 64/32->32 (well,
divide all those by two for 8086 thru 286).

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  Michael L. VanLoon                                 michaelv@HeadCandy.com
       --<  Free your mind and your machine -- NetBSD free un*x  >--
     NetBSD working ports: 386+PC, Mac 68k, Amiga, HP300, Sun3, Sun4,
                           DEC PMAX (MIPS), DEC Alpha, PC532
     NetBSD ports in progress: VAX, Atari 68k, others...
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