Re:Let’s stop copying C (2016)
by pjc50 on Wednesday January 23, 2019 @08:46AM
(#18978015)
Numbers are hard. They can be made to look easy, but that just sweeps the corner cases under the rug.
Probably what people want is a Number type providing integer bignums for those situations when you don't want to care, a set of "machine integer" types with controllable overflow handling, IEEE floating point, a Rational/Fraction so you can handle 1/3 correctly, a Money type with controllable rounding, and COBOL-style "picture" types.
Oh, and complex numbers, and matrix types of all of the above.
Probably what people want is a Number type providing integer bignums for those situations when you don't want to care, a set of "machine integer" types with controllable overflow handling, IEEE floating point, a Rational/Fraction so you can handle 1/3 correctly, a Money type with controllable rounding, and COBOL-style "picture" types.
Oh, and complex numbers, and matrix types of all of the above.