Re:Practical Common Lisp (2009)
by kazinator on Wednesday August 01, 2018 @01:07PM
(#17664470)
> You have to add syntax extensions (this is how Common Lisp does it: http://clhs.lisp.se/Body/02_cbb.htm) or pick an arbitrary representation.
If an unadorned numeric token such as 2.7 generates a single-precision float (32 bit IEEE 754), that is a problem. There are good justifications why the default representation should be the 64 bit double.
The 32 bit single precision has too small a range and precision for general use; it is suitable mainly for saving space in large arrays.
We shouldn't have to use an extra suffix to indicate that we don't want that type, but rather the common double.
If an unadorned numeric token such as 2.7 generates a single-precision float (32 bit IEEE 754), that is a problem. There are good justifications why the default representation should be the 64 bit double.
The 32 bit single precision has too small a range and precision for general use; it is suitable mainly for saving space in large arrays.
We shouldn't have to use an extra suffix to indicate that we don't want that type, but rather the common double.
Even C gets this right.