Re: [myhdl-list] essay about integer arithmetic

[Felton C. <chr...@gm...>]

>
>
> A collection of bits can well more than a single range in  
> representation. A
> 32-bit register can represent 32 bit flags, each having a range  
> [0,1]. Or it
> could represent (4) 8-bit values, each having a range [0,255],  
> [-128,127] or a
> mix. Or it could represent two fields, (6) 1-bit flag values  
> concatenated to a
> 26-bit ordinal. Or, or, or... any number of alternative  
> representations
> involving bit-level concurrency that cannot be represented with a  
> single
> interval specification. This kind of thing is done all the time in  
> hardware.
>

Think this topic is only discussing when a collection of bits is  
acting as a number, integer, and not some other "data type" such as  
flags, logic, etc.  You wouldn't use the min, max when defining a  
collection of bits that are not used for integer arithmetic.

I think there will be some different opinions in the design approach  
but if you wanted an 8 bit register that was used as simple flags, you  
could do that the conventional way without min and max.

As the essay states in the beginning "essay about elementary  
arithmetic with integers".  This topic is about representing integers  
(when the designer intends integers) and not removing basic bit  
vectors for other uses.