[Python-Dev] Numerical robustness, IEEE etc.

[John Williams]

On 6/19/06, Michael Hudson <mwh at python.net> wrote:
> Nick Maclaren <nmm1 at cus.cam.ac.uk> writes:
> > 2) Because some people are dearly attached to the current behaviour,
> > warts and all, and there is a genuine quandary of whether the 'right'
> > behaviour is trap-and-diagnose, propagate-NaN or whatever-IEEE-754R-
> > finally-specifies (let's ignore C99 and Java as beyond redemption),
>
> Why?  Maybe it's clear to you, but it's not totally clear to me, and
> it any case the discussion would be better informed for not being too
> dismissive.

I just happened to be reading this, which I found very convincing:

How Java's Floating-Point Hurts Everyone Everywhere
http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~wkahan/JAVAhurt.pdf