DIV and MOD ( was: Something IBM did right )

[Dave Jones]

>From article <643 at quintus.UUCP>, by ok at quintus.uucp (Richard A. O'Keefe):

> This is an issue which has been thrashed out many times over the years.

No doubt.

> Back issues of SigPlan Notices are a good place to look.

Sigplan Notices is one of the most prolific sources of nonsense in
all Computerdom.

> 
> As Every Schoolboy Knows, there are at least three sensible definitions of
> integer division/remainder, all of which agree which divisor and dividend
> are positive.

Being an [ex] schoolboy (and an [ex] associate prof of computer sci, who
taught quite a few of the schoolboy's), I know about the competing definitions.  
But this exschoolboy finds all but one of them to be seriously flawed.

Maybe I'll start a political movement to enforce my opinions.  I'll call it
a "Standards Committee".    Yeah.  I can see it now:  "Just say NO to 
negative remainders and rounding toward zero."