[r6rs-discuss] [Formal] bitwise-bit-count should return -ve on -ve argument.

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This message is a formal comment which was submitted to formal-comment at r6rs.org, following the requirements described at: http://www.r6rs.org/process.html
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submitter: Ben Harris <bjh21 at bjh21.me.uk>
type: Enhancement
priority: Minor
component: Arithmetic
version: 5.92
summary: bitwise-bit-count should return -ve on -ve argument.
As currently defined, bitwise-bit-count (page 41) is rather ugly,
returning the number of set bits in non-negative arguments and the
number of clear bits in negative ones.  It would obviously be nicer if
it were consistent, but this is made difficult by there being an
infinite number of set bits in a negative number.  This problem can be
dodged by having bitwise-bit-count return the number of set bits mod0
infinity, or more prosaically, by returning the number of set bits in
a non-negative argument, and _minus_ the number of clear bits in a
negative one.
This has some nicer properties than the current definition.  In
particular, setting a previously-clear bit in the argument uniformly
increases the result by one, and clearing a previously-set bit
decreases it.  Also, for arguments that fit in a particular word size,
the number of set bits in the argument represented in a word of that
size can be obtained by taking the result modulo the word size,
regardless of the sign of the argument.  If there are uses for the
current semantics, they're trivially obtained using "abs".
The same change should be applied to fxbit-count on page 37.
-- 
Ben Harris