[Python-Dev] Adventures with Decimal

[Tim Peters]

[Tim Peters]
> ...
> Other important implementations of the standard didn't
> make this mistake; for example, Java's BigDecimal
> (java.lang.String) constructor follows the rules here:
>
>    http://www2.hursley.ibm.com/decimalj/deccons.html

Hmm -- or maybe it doesn't!  The text says:

    The BigDecimal constructed from the String is in a
    standard form, as though the add method had been
    used to add zero to the number with unlimited
    precision.[1]

and I read "add zero" as "applies context".  But then it says
"unlmited precision".  I'm not at all sure what it means now.