Why did* Youtube use signed 32bit integers?

[werto165]

After reading that gangnam style is at the limit of a signed 32 bit integer, I was wondering why they used a signed integers, it's not like you can have negative views. Surely they could just use an unsigned integer that was 32bit. There must be a reason for this, can anyone explain why they would used a signed integer instead of an unsigned one? 

 

article: http://www.theverge.com/2014/12/3/7325819/gangnam-style-broke-youtube-view-counter

 

@slashes_2_asses Thanks. 

Some people, including some textbook authors, recommend using unsigned types to represent numbers that are never negative. This is intended as a form of self-documentation. However, in C, the advantages of such documentation are outweighed by the real bugs it can introduce. Consider:

 

for (unsigned int i = foo.Length()-1; i >= 0; --i) ...

 

This code will never terminate! Sometimes gcc will notice this bug and warn you, but often it will not. Equally bad bugs can occur when comparing signed and unsigned variables. Basically, C's type-promotion scheme causes unsigned types to behave differently than one might expect.

So, document that a variable is non-negative using assertions. Don't use an unsigned type.

[steffen_anywhere]

After reading that gangnam style is at the limit of a signed 32 bit integer, I was wondering why they used a signed integers, it's not like you can have negative views. Surely they could just use an unsigned integer that was 32bit. There must be a reason for this, can anyone explain why they would used a signed integer instead of an unsigned one? 

 

article: http://www.theverge.com/2014/12/3/7325819/gangnam-style-broke-youtube-view-counter

 

I don't know why, I didn't know this before, that is such a dumb decision... I'm guessing this was never an issue before and nobody noticed?

[slashes_2_asses]

I don't know why, I didn't know this before, that is such a dumb decision... I'm guessing this was never an issue before and nobody noticed?

It's not a dump decision. I think you are. 

 

Read this: http://google-styleguide.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/cppguide.html#Integer_Types

 

TL;DR : Singed integers make it easier to correct errors.

[orangecat]

Maybe they just didn't care plus I think its the only video to have over 1 billion views anyways.

[steffen_anywhere]

It's not a dump decision. I think you are. 

 

Read this: http://google-styleguide.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/cppguide.html#Integer_Types

 

TL;DR : Singed integers make it easier to correct errors.

 

LOL, fair enough, didn't know that... You learn something new every day

[mc141]

It's phsy's fault. Gundam style had so many views the counter hit it's max so they had to redo the max the counter could count to.

http://gizmodo.com/gangnam-style-broke-youtubes-view-counter-1666102786