Re: GAWK 5.1.0 doesn't work with 64bit numbers

[Nelson H. F. Beebe]

Hans Riehm reports that assignment of 64-bit integers

        x0 = 0x736f6d6570736575

does not reproduce them when printed:

        printf("%X\n", x0)
        736F6D6570736400

The awk language since its introduction in the 1980s has always had
just two data types: strings and numbers.  The latter are by default
represented as the C type double, which on modern systems is always
the IEEE 754 64-bit format, with a 1-bit sign, 11-bit biased
exponent, 1 hidden (not stored) leading bit before the binary
point, and a stored 52-bit fraction.  Thus, the largest integer
that is exactly represent in that format has at most 53 bits.

The behavior that Hans reported may be surprising, but it is not a
bug.

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