Re: SI Units Solicitation - Upgrade from comments

[mfb@mbunix.mitre.org (Michael F Brenner)]

William A Whitaker asked:
> Give me a better name.  Float is out since it is pre-empted by Ada.  We
> are simulating ATLAS whlch uses the term "DECIMAL", which I believe is
> also pre-empted, and further is a poor discription for a binary floating
> point number.

It is hard to come up with a better set of names than those used
originally in the design of the DOD-1 language (later renamed Ada).
Those two types were approximates and exacts, reflecting their
true nature, use, and limitations. Use of these names includes many
grammatical features which help avoid mistakes, such as: (1) they
are both plural noun phrases representing sets of nouns so they
fit into English-language sentences, (2) they clearly identify when
things are being counted with precision log N versus when things
are being measured approximately cut off at an arbitrary precision,
(3) they clearly distinguish between algorithms whose complexity
changes when you are permitted to use approximate numbers or to
expect approximate answers, (4) they are not trite rehashes 
of FORTRAN or Pascal words, (5) they represent some of the most
important thoughts that went into the original design of Ada, 
and (6) they give an acceptable alternative to using predefined
types.