Re: why still use C?

P.J. Plauger wrote:
> ... I want to explore thoroughly the implications of *not*
> having Standard C support multiple floating-point formats simultaneously,
> before we commit to adding all that complexity to C.

The main implication would be that applications requiring
the properties of decimal f.p. would not be portable to C
implementations that use binary f.p. as the sole flavor
of f.p. (and if there are any depending on the properties
of binary f.p. they would not be portable in the other
direction).  It could be that software emulation of the
other flavor of f.p. would be adequate in many cases, and
requiring support would thus enhance portability.  We
need to determine a reliable estimate for the number of
applications in this category.

In past committee discussions, reprsentatives of the
numerical analysis community have assured us that there
are important algorithms in use where the exact behavior
of the lowest-order bits significantly affects the
outcome of f.p. computation.  Thus that community would
presumably care whether a binary or a decimal radix was
used, and we should get their feedback also.

I'll also remark that this newsgroup discussion isn't a
very effective way to proceed.  In several days of
dicussion so far, no point has been made that wasn't
dealt with within a few minutes at the evening session
during the recent Kona C meeting.
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