Time for 64-bit longs?

[SofPasuk at imagen.UUCP]

In article <1643 at cit-vax.Caltech.Edu>, news at cit-vax.Caltech.Edu (Usenet netnews) writes:
> ... Why not have
> short=16 bits, int=32 bits, long=64 bits?
> 

It would have been nice perhaps if the language was originally defined that
way.  But a retrofit that would make long=64 bits would play real havoc
with not only portability issues (no flames please, I'm talking REALITY here),
but also with execution performance of programs that need no more than 32-bit
precision, use long for same, and now have to use 64 bit arithmetic (possibly
invoking run time routines for every arithmetic operation).