Re: "long" type is not appropriate for counting tuples

On Thu, May 23, 2019 at 10:21 AM Peter Eisentraut
<peter(dot)eisentraut(at)2ndquadrant(dot)com> wrote:
> Hmm, by that argument, we shouldn't ever use any integer type other than
> int16, int32, and int64.

I think we basically shouldn't. I mean it's fine to use 'int' as a
flags argument as part of an internal API, or as a loop counter
private to a function or something. But if you are passing around
values that involve on-disk compatibility or wire protocol
compatibility, it's just a recipe for bugs. If the code has to
sometimes cast a value to some other type, somebody may do it wrong.
If there's a uniform rule that tuple counts are always int64, that's
pretty easy to understand.

In short, when a certain kind of value is widely-used, it should have
a clearly-declared width.

--
Robert Haas
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