Because I want to store something that is a 64bit int? I mean this is really a weird question. There are a lot of things that require this starting with timestamps:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_2038_problem

Which you can store as two 32 bit integers, or one 53 bit integer. Nothing requires native 64 bit.

64 bit is nicer than 32 bit, but it's scarcely more necessary than 128 bit numbers.

datetimes, aggregations, etc. pretty much anything non-toy in the modern world requires 64 bit int.

like I said. read NEED as in you can certainly hobble around without it (pick an appropriate offset and read your 53 bits in relation to it), but like a fracture in a leg, it's still considered broken.

What exactly do you mean by aggregations here?

If you want a good timestamp you probably want a timespec, and that won't fit in 64 bits anyway.

I don't see why it's easy to make 128+ bit types be composite, but you can't have 64 bit types be composite.

Your database driver can take care of how the bits are packed on the wire. It really shouldn't be a big concern.

A query optimizer might do a lot better with a native integer type than a user-defined one cobbled out of int32's. It knows all the mathematical properties of the type and add things in any order, knows that x < y implies x + 1 <= y, etc.

probably easier to have this convo in email (check my profile). HN iisn't quite setup for back and forth. I'm more than willing to see your point about about a 53-bit int. I think dev experience can be made more difficult as long as a you get compensation in other areas. Email me a "hi" and I'll respond, but it might have to wait until later in the day.