Discrepency between JPython and CPython

[Andrew Dalke]

Neel Krishnaswami asked:
>Why is this? Don't they [Java] just use IEEE-754 like everybody else?


The relevent paper I know of is
 "How Java’s Floating-Point Hurts Everyone Everywhere"
  http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~wkahan/JAVAhurt.pdf

which claims:

> Abstract:
>  Java’s floating-point arithmetic is blighted by five gratuitous mistakes:
> 1. Linguistically legislated exact reproducibility is at best mere
>   wishful thinking.
> 2. Of two traditional policies for mixed precision evaluation, Java
>   chose the worse.
> 3. Infinities and NaNs unleashed without the protection of floating-point
>   traps and flags mandated by IEEE Standards 754/854 belie Java’s claim
>   to robustness.
> 4. Every programmer’s prospects for success are diminished by Java’s
>   refusal to grant access to capabilities built into over 95% of today's
>   floating-point hardware.
> 5. Java has rejected even mildly disciplined infix operator overloading,
>   without which extensions to arithmetic with everyday mathematical types
>   like complex numbers, intervals, matrices, geometrical objects and
>   arbitrarily high precision become extremely inconvenient.

Don't ask me about the topic - I just parrot.  Bwack! Andrew want a
cracker!

                    Andrew
                    dalke at acm.org