[RFC v1 2/2] c: Add _Maxof and _Minof operators

[Alejandro Colomar]

Hi Paul,

On Wed, Oct 15, 2025 at 01:14:07PM -0400, Paul Koning wrote:
> 
> 
> > On Oct 15, 2025, at 12:10 PM, Michael Matz <matz@suse.de> wrote:
> > 
> > ...
> >> And as we're seeing, bool belongs in a third class of integer types, in
> >> which it is the only member.  It doesn't belong in the class of unsigned
> >> integer types (which is BTW something under discussion in the
> >> C Committee at the moment).
> > 
> > If saturated types are ever included it won't be the only member of that 
> > class.  Even absent that the loneliness of bool doesn't imply anything 
> > specific.
> 
> I don't see how saturation, or the lack of it, is relevant.  "max" and "min" are defined in terms of the < operator, so any type for which < is defined can define min/max as well.  Python is an example of a language that does this uniformly (for example, max("abc","abxq") is valid).
> 
> I take it that the C standard says < is defined for boolean type.  That's all the answer that seems needed.  Conversely, in a language where < is not a valid operator for booleans (such as ALGOL) min/max would not be, either.

The _Maxof and _Minof operators we're discussing are unrelated to MAX(3)
and MIN(3).  MAX(3) and MIN(3) return the maximum or minimum of two
numbers.  _Maxof() and _Minof() return the maximum or minimum
representable value of a type.


Have a lovely night!
Alex

-- 
<https://www.alejandro-colomar.es>
Use port 80 (that is, <...:80/>).
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