[m-dev.] remaining design issues for new integer types

[Peter Wang]

On Tue, 11 Apr 2017 02:02:53 +1000 (AEST), "Zoltan Somogyi" <zoltan.somogyi at runbox.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> On Mon, 10 Apr 2017 13:46:10 +1000 (AEST), Julien Fischer <jfischer at opturion.com> wrote:
> >      4. poly_type and format.
> > 
> >      * Should string.poly_type include an alternative for uints and
> >      be supported by io.format etc?
> >      * What about the fixed size integers?
> 
> A format specifier for C's printf has the general form
> 
>     %[parameter][flags][width][.precision][length]type
> 
> Mercury's format functions at the moment provide a subset of that
> functionality, implementing only
> 
>     %[flags][width][.precision]type
> 
> omitting the parameter and length parts. The issue we are talking about
> is whether we should add the length part, and if yes, how.

I don't understand why the length is needed in the format string when it
is available from the poly_type.

Peter