• ayyy@sh.itjust.works
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    1 day ago

    It depends on how they are representing the numbers. If they are stored as an “integer” they will overflow and wrap around after about 2 trillion. I’m not saying computers can’t handle larger numbers, I’m saying that in my extensive experience there’s always some part of older systems that generate some long-forgotten but essential report that never thought about handling huge numbers and breaks in unexpected ways.