Rob & Craig: Is there something magic about the number 32767

[beacon1]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 12:51pm

Rob & Craig,

Both the "Adults Smoking" and "Eddie Varley" threads are "stuck" on 32767 views though both have passed this number...

Did we blow a circuit with all this activity? Are the hamsters in the system rioting on their treadmills? Has RightSaidRick run off with you?

Curious minds would love to know!

[Phantom2]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 12:55pm

It's The Craigster's fault.

Updated On: 8/24/04 at 12:55 PM

[Craig]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 12:56pm

Everyone back, the site's gonna blow

and the first person who turns that commment into a sexual innuendo joke gets it deleted!

[Rob]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 12:57pm

Yep... That was the maximum number for the data type I was using to track the views. We've graduated now from "SmallInt" to "MediumInt" for those keeping technical track.

We live in exciting times.

[Craig]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 12:57pm

Ok.. the next person who turns this into geekspeak also gets it deleted kidding Rob!

[beacon1]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 12:58pm

Rob,

And in Earth terms this means...

[Phantom2]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 12:59pm

Say ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

[Plum]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 1:11pm

I actually understood that. *sob*

To put it simply, it means computers can't really count forever, beacon.

To make it a little more complicated, when you program a computer, a number isn't just a number. It's a type of number- a data type. Different types of numbers take up different amounts of space and are handled differently by the computer. I guess the limit of "smallints" that the computer could handle was 32767. By changing the data type to "medint," Rob made the computer able to count higher.

Feel free to tell me I'm an idiot if I put that incorrectly, Rob. My programming experience is minimal at best. :)

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 1:12pm

The sad thing is, I actually do know the significance of 32767 and what a small_int is. Damn Computer Science.

Updated On: 8/24/04 at 01:12 PM

[Plum]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 1:23pm

I only learned C, but I think I have the general idea. *twitch* Not that *twitch* Comp Sci *twitch* scarred me for life or anything.

*twitch*

*twitch*

[Zola Q. LaPlaya]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 1:54pm

But the question remains: "will you return the 32,767 posts to the South Korean who finished third?"

[Matt_G]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 1:56pm

Zoles, you must change that icon. I'm at work and it's very dangerous for me to be looking at that.

[popcultureboy]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 1:58pm

Have you seen your own icon, Matt? Talk about dangerous......

[Zola Q. LaPlaya]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 1:58pm

same right back at you.

[newyorkuniq]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 8:09pm

It could be the new motto:


32,767, measure you're life in posts :P

[mominator]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 8:27pm

Oh God I am scared!! I actually understood all the geek speak!
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

[insomniak]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 9:08pm

So why 32767? Seems kinda random.

[beacon1]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 9:13pm

Rob and Craig,

Mominator's right...what is the next magic number?

We can set it as a goal on the "Adults Smoking" thread. LOL!

[NYadgal]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 9:14pm

We've broken through...there are now more 'hits' on the adult thread....

What's our new limit??

[mominator]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 9:18pm

Woo Hoo!! A new goal! Unless they give us something beyon Legend.

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 9:24pm

So why 32767? Seems kinda random.

It's a Computer Science thing. It's how numbers (and information in general) is stored in your computer.

Forgive me if some of this is wrong (it's been awhile since I studied this):

Basic integers (or ints) are stored as a 16-digit binary number in your computer, a.k.a 16 bits. For example:

0000000000000010 = the decimal number 2
0000000000001010 = the decimal number 10
0100000000000000 = the decimal number 16384

The first digit in the 16-digit string signifies if the number is positive (0) or negative (1).

So, if you're only dealing with positive numbers (such as a count of number of reads, which we're doing here), you only have 15 binary digits to play with: 0 101010101010101 (one 0 followed by 15 binary digits), where the first digit (the separate 0) means the entire number is positive.

So 2^15 = 32768
ie. 32768 possibilities of making a 15-digit number of 1's and 0's.

Another way of seeing it is: you have 16 binary digits. So you can make:
2^16 = 65536 different numbers
But you have to divide in half, because half your numbers are positive, and half are negative:
65536 / 2 = 32768 positive numbers

Finally, you have to minus 1, because the number 0111111111111111 represents positive infinity (this is the iffy part I don't remember - is this true? Someone correct me if it's not).

So really, you only have 32768 - 1 = 32767 positive numbers that can be made from 16 binary digits.

I'm guessing this is now fixed because, instead of using int (basic integers), he can use a "long" (larger integers) or something. Thus the count can now be much, much higher if need be.

Any questions?

Updated On: 8/24/04 at 09:24 PM

[LadyGuenevere]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 9:25pm

My head hurts.

[NYadgal]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 9:26pm

owww, mine too.

thanks, though.

[BwayTheatre11]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 9:27pm

?

[Rob]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 9:43pm

My head now hurts as well... It's a 'mediumint' now which should get us up to 16,777,215, since we're using unsigned (all positive) values.