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From: emjej@uokvax.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.lang.c
Subject: Re: Numerical C - (nf)
Message-ID: <3000022@uokvax.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 24-Apr-84 09:34:00 EST
Article-I.D.: uokvax.3000022
Posted: Tue Apr 24 09:34:00 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 27-Apr-84 03:56:37 EST
References: <1311@mhuxt.UUCP>
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Nf-ID: #R:mhuxt:-131100:uokvax:3000022:000:847
Nf-From: uokvax!emjej    Apr 24 08:34:00 1984

#R:mhuxt:-131100:uokvax:3000022:000:847
uokvax!emjej    Apr 24 08:34:00 1984

/***** uokvax:net.lang.c / mhuxt!evans /  5:52 pm  Apr 17, 1984 */
How many people out there use C as a numerical language? Aside from faster
compilers I think that I'd be happy with the addition of a complex type and
some improved math library routines. Any comments from the hornet's nest?
/* ---------- */

I would not use C as a numerical language, because of the way it promotes
float to double with reckless abandon. I can only assume that someone had
a very touching faith in double precision when making that design decision;
it's a major loss, and I hope that the ANSI standard gets rid of it. If
you don't know what you're doing, double precision won't help you in
numerical software, and if you do know what you're doing, promoting float
to double for all arithmetic operations and function calls is a waste of
time.

						James Jones