[fitsbits] FITS 64-bit Integer Public Comment Period

[Mike Nolan]

On Wed, Jun 15, 2005 at 03:51:46PM -0400, William Pence wrote:
> 
> Are you in favor of adding support in FITS for BOTH 64-bit integer images 
> and 64-bit integer table columns?  Should the FITS committees be allowed to 
> vote on each of these 2 cases separately (and perhaps approve one without 
> the other), or are these 2 cases so closely linked that they should only be 
> considered together?

I am in favor of allowing 64-bit quantities in both images and tables
because in my experience it is common to need to be able to convert one
to the other.

I believe the questions should be whether to allow 64-bit data quantities
and to allow 64-bit pointer offsets, but that if you allow 64-bit data
quantities you should allow them everywhere. If they are allowed in one
place, then there is no implementation advantage in not allowing them
everywhere.

-Mike

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From: Mike Nolan <nolan at naic.edu>
Mike Nolan +1 787 878 2612 Fax: +1 787 878 1861 nolan at naic.edu
Arecibo Observatory, HC3 Box 93995, Arecibo, Puerto Rico 00612