I am definitely not an expert in this area, but wouldn't one reason be that an
equal level of precision is wanted throughout the entire range of the quantity
being represented, rather than there being lower precision for numbers with a
larger absolute value and higher precision for numbers with a smaller absolute
value? I forget exactly where fixed point numbers are used or not used, so I
may be completely mistaken.
Regards,
George
On 1/2/25 14:29, Ian (Magical Bat) Dvorin wrote:
> Hello,
>
> Recently, I was looking at the source code for the SDF rendering portion of
> FreeType, and I was surprised to see that all the math is done using fixed
> point numbers. Looking further, the library does not use floating point at
> all. What are the primary reasons for this? Is it just a relic of the
> original library design when fixed point numbers were significantly than
> floating point numbers? Do they allow for slightly more precision when
> working at a certain scale? Are there separate compatibility reasons? I am
> sorry if there is an explanation somewhere on the FreeType website; I was not
> able to find anything. Thank you in advance for any explanation.
