Question

I have the following code :

Dim L as Integer
Dim R as Integer
Dim a as Integer

a=((L+R)/2)

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Now (L+R) exceeds limit of Integer.
In order to handle this case:
I have following three options:

1. Define L (or R) as Long
2. Write a= ((CLng(L)+R)/2)
3. Declare new variable as Long :

Like this

Dim S as Long
S=S+L+R

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I am confused which one is the best to implement?

Answer 1

I’d pick #2. I think (not sure) that this uses a little less memory than #1 because there’s only one Long -value in the equation where as changing L or R to Long would require space for 2 Long values.

I’m thinking #2 and #3 might end up looking the same (or pretty damn close) after compile and I personally think that in this case an extra variable wouldn’t make it more readable. The difference of course is that in #2 the result of the L+R might not need to be saved anywhere, but only moved between registers for the calculation.

I’m thinking alot here, but I’m posting this partly because I hope that if I’m wrong, someone would correct me. Anyway, with the reasoning above, I’d go with #2. Edit: at least I’m quite certain that if one of the options uses less memory than the others, it’s #2, but they might all be the same in that regard.