[Numpy-discussion] float128 in fact float80

[Matthew Brett]

Hi,

On Sun, Oct 16, 2011 at 2:11 PM, David Cournapeau <cournape at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sun, Oct 16, 2011 at 7:40 PM, Matthew Brett <matthew.brett at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Hi,
>
>> If we use float64 we know what that is.  If we are using float128,
>> we've got no idea what it is.
>
> I think there is no arguing here: the ideal solution would be to
> follow what happens with 32 and 64 bits reprensentations. But this is
> impossible on today's architectures because the 2008 version of the
> IEEE 754 standard is not supported yet.

If we agree that float128 is a bad name for something that isn't IEEE
binary128, and there is already a longdouble type (thanks for pointing
that out), then what about:

Deprecating float128 / float96 as names
Preferring longdouble for cross-platform == fairly big float of some sort
Specific names according to format (float80 etc) ?

See you,

Matthew