On Thu, Nov 14, 2002 at 01:33:31PM -0600, Jonathan Scott Duff wrote:
> On Thu, Nov 14, 2002 at 10:28:38AM -0800, Michael Lazzaro wrote:
>
> > 1.23_e_4 # ok?
>
> Hrm. This one is annoying, but I think it should be okay.
Are you sure? If so, can you explain why for me, because I don't
think it should. Larry said that _ is only allowed between
digits--and here 'e' is not a digit, it is an exponent marker. It
serves a similar function to the decimal ('.') in 7.3 -- not an actual
component of the number (i.e., a digit), but a structural marker
within the number (saying "this next part is the (decimal|exponent)"
for floats/exponentials, respectively).
> > 20:1.G.K # base 20 (identical?)
> > 20:1_G_K # base 20 (identical?)
> > 20:1.16.19 # base 20 (identical?)
> > 20:1_16_19 # base 20 (identical?)
>
>(I still don't see
> a use for non-decimal floating point representations, but that's
> probably just my lack of imagination).
It's not just you--I don't see it either, fwiw. The only reason I can
come up with--and I am not convinced by it--is that if you are doing a
long series of calculations in one base, you might now want to do the
context switch in your head just because you need to use a float.
--Dks
