Jon Harrop wrote:
Arbitrary precision integers are quite a performance burden and they are rarely used. I would not expect a language that is trying to be efficient to impose arbitrary precision integers (or floats).
Apparently you have looked inside a computer *algebra* system, one that does *exact* computations (i.e. on polynomials with exact coefficients, not floats/doubles). Arbitrary precision integers are not a 'burden', they are an absolute necessity. Algorithms on polynomials will almost inevitably produce 'coefficient growth'. Even things as simple as sub-resultant computations (for computing extended GCDs) have this problem. And this is not a fluke or a problem with state-of-the-art, there are known cases where this is inevitable.
Like Jerzy, I wonder why I get suckered in to these conversations. I guess we both have this silly need to set the record straight.
Jacques _______________________________________________ Haskell-Cafe mailing list Haskell-Cafe@haskell.org http://www.haskell.org/mailman/listinfo/haskell-cafe
