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=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,LOTS_OF_MONEY autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 107f24,626a0a064b320310 X-Google-Attributes: gid107f24,public X-Google-Thread: f4fd2,626a0a064b320310 X-Google-Attributes: gidf4fd2,public X-Google-Thread: 114809,626a0a064b320310 X-Google-Attributes: gid114809,public X-Google-Thread: 10259a,626a0a064b320310 X-Google-Attributes: gid10259a,public X-Google-Thread: 103376,ea8ea502d35ca2ce X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-Thread: 1164ba,626a0a064b320310 X-Google-Attributes: gid1164ba,public X-Google-Thread: 103d24,626a0a064b320310 X-Google-Attributes: gid103d24,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2001-05-30 21:15:43 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!newsfeed.google.com!sn-xit-02!supernews.com!news.gv.tsc.tdk.com!news.iac.net!news-out.cwix.com!newsfeed.cwix.com!feed.news.qwest.net!news.uswest.net.POSTED!not-for-mail From: "Frank A. Adrian" Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada,comp.lang.lisp,comp.lang.smalltalk,comp.lang.basic,comp.lang.functional,comp.lang.scheme,comp.lang.perl References: Subject: Re: Beginner's Language? X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.50.4522.1200 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.50.4522.1200 Message-ID: Date: Wed, 30 May 2001 21:15:23 -0700 NNTP-Posting-Host: 63.229.134.157 X-Trace: news.uswest.net 991282523 63.229.134.157 (Wed, 30 May 2001 23:15:23 CDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 30 May 2001 23:15:23 CDT Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:7909 comp.lang.lisp:11007 comp.lang.smalltalk:10352 comp.lang.functional:5978 comp.lang.scheme:4076 comp.lang.perl:3062 Date: 2001-05-30T21:15:23-07:00 List-Id: "robin" wrote in message news:wqgR6.27659$hV3.44837@newsfeeds.bigpond.com... > Johan Kullstam writes: > Florian Weimer writes: > > you can always do fixed point with integers. > > Indeed you can, but the advantage of decimal arithmetic is the range > of values is typically greater than that offered by integer > arithmetic (decimal hardware offers varying field length arithmetic > of from 1 to say, 30 digits). So? So does Lisp. > > for example, to do dollars to two decimal places, just count pennies > > instead of dollars. > > That typically allows up to $21,474,836.48, which isn't a large amount. > Even less in Lire (L2,147,483,647 -- L1000 = $1 approx) Not in Lisp. Arbitrary size integers. Same with Smalltalk. > > other than a little notational convenience, i've never understood what > > the big deal was with fixed point. Me nether, but then (obviously), we use the right languages. faa P.S. Any language where you can add two positive numbers together and get a negative number is inherently broken. It is a sign of the language designer and compiler writer choosing their own convenience over yours.