On 6/27/05, Michael Chermside <mcherm at mcherm.com> wrote: > Fredrik Johansson writes: > > In either case, compatibility can be ensured by allowing both n-digit > > decimal and hardware binary precision for floats, settable via a float > > context. > > Perhaps you can show me a design (or working code) that proves me > wrong, but I don't believe that such a design could be made compatible > with the existing Decimal module... certainly while continuing to > maintain compatibility with the Cowlinshaw specification. Are you thinking of any particular problem? > > There is the alternative of providing decimal literals by using > > separate decimal and binary float base types > > If, by this, you mean adding a "binary float context" modeled after > the Decimal float context and providing access to the underlying FP > flags and traps and generally enhancing the use of binary FP, then > I think it's a great idea. The context (as I envision it) would not be just a "binary float context", but a universal float context that lets you choose between binary and decimal precision at run time. A context for Python's current float type would be a nice idea by itself, though. > It's probably impossible to write in a > cross-platform manner (because C supplies support for binary FP but > does not offer access to the flags and traps), but this is one of those > few cases where it's worth using platform-and-compiler specific code. I agree. --Fredrik
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