[fitsbits] 64-bit integers

[Markus Dolensky]

Hi Everybody,

Forgive me if that has been brought up before, but as a relatively new observer 
of this list let me share an idea. Emphasizing the fact that FITS is a 
'transport' format and that there will always be various, coexisting computer 
architectures (be it 8- or 64-bit computers) - what about allowing

BITPIX = [-]2**n   / where n = [3..14]

Restricting the upper limit of n to 14 ensures that one value fits into a 
single FITS record = 23040 bits (in case we decide to care about this limit). 
m=14 => 16384 bit => 2K/value

I'm admittedly unaware about the requirements that the FITS group puts on the 
availability of IEEE standards and reference implementations concerning the 
number representation in cases of m>=10.

Cheers,
Markus

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| Markus Dolensky      Mailto:Markus.Dolensky at eso.org
| ESO VO Technology Group Head   Web: www.euro-vo.org
| Voice: ++49 89 32006/261     Fax: ++49 89 32006/480
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