[net.lang.c] binary numbers in C

purtill@petrus.UUCP (Mark Purtill) (08/01/86)

<oink!>
One thing that C could use (especially the stdio library, which is what
got me thinking about this) is better handling of binary numbers.  It would
be nice to type 0b10 (like 0x... and 0...) for 2, and to be able to say
printf( "%16b", binary_number) instead of 
printf( "%16s", function_to_format_binary_numbers( binary_number)).
I don't think this is something that should be put in the ANSI standard,
but maybe for P (or D.)  Can anyone in netland come up with a reason why
this is a bad idea (aside from issues of language size, please.)?

            mark purtill            (201) 829-5127
^.-.^ Arpa: purtill@bellcore.com    435 south st 2H-307
((")) Uucp: ihnp4!bellcore!purtill  morristown nj 07960