This and other RFCs are available on the web at http://dev.perl.org/rfc/ =head1 TITLE Remove mathematic and trigonomic functions from core binary =head1 VERSION Maintainer: Stephen P. Potter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Aug 24 2000 Last Modified: Aug 28 2000 Version: 2 Mailing List: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Number: 155 =head1 ABSTRACT Move the mathematic functions (C<exp>, C<log>, C<sqrt>) from the core binary into a loadable module. Remove the trigonomic (C<atan2>, C<cos>, C<sin>) functions from the binary, they can already be loaded from the Math::Trig.pm module. =head1 DESCRIPTION It is desirable to make the perl core binary be easy to maintain and parse. It is further desirable to make it easy for parts of the language to be unimplemented on future ports (such as for embedded systems). Moving as many of the special purpose functions to loadable modules serves these goals well. There are very few mathematic functions currently in the core binary. These appear to have been mostly chosen only because they were either easy to implement or they had been included in other languages that perl was designed to "replace". It would be worthwhile to move these functions to a loadable module (C<Math.pm>). Moving these functions to a module also allows ease of adding other functions to these categories. The specific functions that would move to the C<Math.pm> module are: =over 4 =item C<exp> =item C<log> =item C<sqrt> =back The trigonomic functions currently included in the core binary are of generally limited and specific value. This RFC is further proposing that all trigonomic functions should move to a Math::Trig.pm module. In general, those functions are already there, this proposal would have them removed from the core binary. The specific functions that would be covered under this proposal are: =over =item C<atan2> =item C<cos> =item C<sin> =back =head1 IMPLEMENTATION Creation of C<Math.pm> module for the listed math functions. Other useful functions can also be added to this module. Removal of mathematic and trigonomic functions from core binary. It is recommended that they be defined to require C<use Math;> or C<use Math::Trig>, but it should be acceptible for them to autoload. =head1 REFERENCES L<perlfunc> =head1 CHANGES Version 1 of this RFC included a brain-drain on the category of the functions. They are trigonomic, not geometric. Version 1 of this RFC lumped all mathematic functions into one category. This version breaks them into two categories. Inclusion of more reasoning.
