Xref: utzoo comp.lang.misc:3561 comp.arch:11675
Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ncar!unmvax!bbx!bbxsda!scott
From: scott@bbxsda.UUCP (Scott Amspoker)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.misc,comp.arch
Subject: Re: Fast conversions, another urban myth?
Message-ID: <208@bbxsda.UUCP>
Date: 6 Oct 89 15:37:41 GMT
References: <832@dms.UUCP> <688@UALTAVM.BITNET> <1989Sep25.184425.20936@utzoo.uucp> <2261@csadfa.oz>
Reply-To: scott@bbxsda.UUCP (Scott Amspoker)
Organization: Basis International,  Albuquerque, NM
Lines: 29

In article <2261@csadfa.oz> gwg@csadfa.oz (George Gerrity) writes:
>    In conclusion, decimal arithmetic is only an advantage because it
>supports a bad data paradigm found in an obsolete, but still widely-
>used programming language.

I have to deal with decimal formats everyday and I haven't been near
a COBOL compiler in 12 years.  There are many different languages that
are more specialized and less well-known than COBOL that use floating
decimal representations for whatever reason the original designers
chose.  Perhaps we can start up a "wipe-out-decimal-math-by-the-year-2000"
campaign (I intend to be wealthy and retired by then, so you can do what
you want).  

I'm not disagreeing that decimal math has its problems.  But you can't
just say, "this is bad so we will not address the issue".

The first thing we have to do with new programmers, fresh out of college,
is make them understand the difference between the way things should be
and the way they are.  The quickest and most humane way of doing that is
to let them answer the technical support lines for a week and see what
the *real world* is like.  Decimal math is here and it is not going away
any time soon.  I personnally don't care.  The disadvantages of
decimal math presented so far are not big issues to me.  It works and
it works well.

-- 
Scott Amspoker
Basis International, Albuquerque, NM
(505) 345-5232