Re: fixed point vs floating point

[dewar@merv.cs.nyu.edu (Robert Dewar)]

Joe said

<<Because Robert attacked me simply for saying that there was a problem back
then.  My point here is that I don't know why he cared that much about
such an ancient issue.  Never mind the now fuzzy details.  It very much
has the flavor of refighting yesterday's war.  Tiresome, and quite
pointless.
>>

I am really puzzled by this response. Joe said there were problems back
then. Fine, I wanted to find out what they were, doesn't seem like an
attack to me! But I must say, my attempt to get more detail on Joe's
claims have been entirely in vain, not for want of trying.

It is fine for people to complain that they had problems because of
incorrect implementation of fixed-point in early compilers, but only
if that really is the case, and I was dubious. I must say this entire
discussion has not removed the doubt I have that this claim is real.

I know Ada fixed-point pretty well, and I have followed its use quite
closely. I am aware of some difficulties in implementations, particularly
restrictions on non-binary small values, but I must say I am not aware
of any difficulties that would correspond to Joe's vague recollections,
so given Joe's inability to recall any details at all, I am inclined
to think that the best guess is that the problems came from not
understanding the language properly at this point (I certainly am
very aware of the level of confusion that people have over fixed-point,
which is one of the reasons I wrote the Ada 9X special report -- Joe
I recommend reading this for a better perspective on the issues).

As for your comments on portability being deliberate irony, I have no way
of telling which of your dubious statements are intended as irony and
which are serious :-) :-)