From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,MAILING_LIST_MULTI, REPLYTO_WITHOUT_TO_CC autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,18f7f6e041b3e0bf X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2002-08-17 12:05:06 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newsfeed.icl.net!newsfeed.fjserv.net!opentransit.net!fr.clara.net!heighliner.fr.clara.net!freenix!enst.fr!not-for-mail From: "Robert C. Leif" Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: RE: Information Systems Annex (usefulness of Decimal Floats) Date: Sat, 17 Aug 2002 12:04:44 -0700 Organization: ENST, France Sender: comp.lang.ada-admin@ada.eu.org Message-ID: Reply-To: comp.lang.ada@ada.eu.org NNTP-Posting-Host: marvin.enst.fr Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Trace: avanie.enst.fr 1029611105 3332 137.194.161.2 (17 Aug 2002 19:05:05 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@enst.fr NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 17 Aug 2002 19:05:05 +0000 (UTC) Return-Path: X-Envelope-From: rleif@rleif.com X-Envelope-To: X-Priority: 3 (Normal) X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook, Build 10.0.3416 Importance: Normal In-Reply-To: <5ee5b646.0208170256.13390643@posting.google.com> X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2600.0000 Errors-To: comp.lang.ada-admin@ada.eu.org X-BeenThere: comp.lang.ada@ada.eu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.0.12 Precedence: bulk List-Help: List-Post: List-Subscribe: , List-Id: comp.lang.ada mail<->news gateway List-Unsubscribe: , Errors-To: comp.lang.ada-admin@ada.eu.org X-BeenThere: comp.lang.ada@ada.eu.org Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:28184 Date: 2002-08-17T12:04:44-07:00 From: Robert C. Leif To: Robert Dewar et al. Decimal fixed point is sufficient only if you have a common intermediate reference, such as the Dollar, Euro, or gold. However, one can get into a combinatorial catastrophe employing multiple conversion factors. Complex scientific and engineering calculations require a floating type. I still believe that given the existence of gigahertz processors, that there is a benefit in performing calculations in the most human understandable format, decimal. However, since this is a philosophical question, rather than an Ada question, I am quite willing to terminate this discussion. -----Original Message----- From: comp.lang.ada-admin@ada.eu.org [mailto:comp.lang.ada-admin@ada.eu.org] On Behalf Of Robert Dewar Sent: Saturday, August 17, 2002 3:56 AM To: comp.lang.ada@ada.eu.org Subject: Re: Information Systems Annex (usefulness of Decimal Floats) "Warren W. Gay VE3WWG" wrote in message news:<3D5D1EA5.1040406@cogeco.ca>... > One recent example of this, was the Euro conversion, > where we had to do those triangulation computations > (three currencies were involved). You have a broad range > of values between British pound and the Turkish Lira, for > example. Sorry, I don't see this. Were you writing in COBOL? I would guess not. In COBOL, this calculation is easily done in decimal fixed point (and in Ada you could do the same thing :-)