[Python-Dev] Re: [Python-numerics]Re: WYSIWYG decimal fractions

[Guido van Rossum]

> I think you'd have a very hard time finding any pre-college level teacher who
> wants to teach binary fp.  Your ABC experience is consistent with that too.

"Want to", no.  But whether they're teaching Java, C++, or Pascal,
they have no choice: if they need 0.5, they'll need binary floating
point, whether they explain it adequately or not.  Possibly they are
all staying away from the decimal point completely, but I find that
hard to believe.

> >  But other educators (e.g. Randy Pausch, and the folks who did
> > VPython) strongly recommend this based on user observation, so there's
> > hope.
> 
> Alice is a red herring!  What they wanted was for 1/2 *not* to mean 0.  I've
> read the papers and dissertations too -- there was no plea for binary fp in
> those, just that division not throw away info.

I never said otherwise.  It just boils down to binary fp as the only
realistic choice.

--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)