Re: float with 24-bit resolution

[Matthew Heaney <matthewjheaney@earthlink.net>]

Adrian Hoe <mailbox@adrianhoe.nospam.com.my> writes:

> Randy Brukardt wrote:
> > 
> >     type Randys_Type is delta The_Small range -Limit+The_Small ..
> > Limit-The_Small;
> 
> "-Limit+The_Small .. Limit-The_Small" does not comply to my requirement 
> which the angle must be in -360.0000000 to +359.9999571.

I didn't understand Randy's comment.  As far as I know, the correction
for T'Small is only necessary for the upper bound, not the lower bound
(unless this is a 1's complement machine).

Randy and I disagree about who should make the correction: the compiler
or the developer.  I argue that the compiler should do it, but Randy
finds this confusing.  YMMV.

Either of the angle types defined in my post and in Simon Wright's post
should work fine.  Both include -360 in the range of the subtype.

This issue is not unlike another convention some programmers use for
initializing access objects to null:

declare
   type T is access all Integer;

   Null_Object : T; 
   --vs--
   Null_Object : T := null;
begin

I prefer the former to the latter, because the former emphasizes that
the compiler is doing some work for me.

I find the latter convention confusing, because it suggests that if the
initialization part were omitted, then the object wouldn't be
initialized.  But that would be incorrect.