[LEAPSECS] Negative TAI-UTC

[Tom Van Baak]

Hi Clive,

Ok, that's my kind of programmer!

Then use 8 bits. That gives you one for sign and 7 for magnitude. We've had +27 leap seconds (6-bits) in 45 years so you're well within the +/- 127 limit for the rest of the century. If your project specs call for a greater lifetime than that then add a massive safety margin and go with 10 bits. If your project does not need to handle times prior to the present, then you can save a few bits by using the year 2000 or 2016 as the origin instead of 1972.

/tvb

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Clive D.W. Feather" <clive at davros.org>
To: "Tom Van Baak" <tvb at leapsecond.com>; "Leap Second Discussion List" <leapsecs at leapsecond.com>
Sent: Tuesday, February 07, 2017 9:40 AM
Subject: Re: [LEAPSECS] Negative TAI-UTC


> Tom Van Baak said:
>> Yes, of course. This is not the 1960's where saving a byte was an all-day decision. The spec is clear. Follow it.
> 
> Actually, some of us work in fields where every byte is still expensive.
> 
> -- 
> Clive D.W. Feather          | If you lie to the compiler,
> Email: clive at davros.org     | it will get its revenge.
> Web: http://www.davros.org  |   - Henry Spencer
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