[Matrix-SIG] Numeric Nits

[Paul F. Dubois]

----- Original Message -----
From: Konrad Hinsen <hinsen@cnrs-orleans.fr>
To: <dubois1@llnl.gov>
Cc: <matrix-sig@python.org>
Sent: Thursday, June 24, 1999 5:44 AM
Subject: Re: [Matrix-SIG] Numeric Nits


> > If one is going to do anything to Python or Numeric's precision we ought
to
> > go for the gold and be the SECOND language in which it is possible to do
> > portable numerical programming. The current definition of a default real
in
>
> I like that idea - but how would one implement it in portable C? And
> what would Python do to satisfy "unreasonable" precision requests? Use
> some arbitrary-precision library? In fact, what do Fortran 90 compilers
> do?
>
> BTW, I'd also prefer Python integers to be of the same size on all
> machines, most of all to be able to deal with binary files in a
> portable way.
> --
Fortran 90 compilers get an error if your request is "unreasonable" for that
compiler.
The same kind syntax is also used for controlling integer variable size.

I presume that a routine to calculate the word sizes is possible or that
something can be done with configure, but I haven't thought it out.