Re: [xsl] format-number() causing problems to non-java implementators

[Elliotte Rusty Harold <elharo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 10:05 AM -0800 1/17/01, Joe English wrote:

> >  BTW: Are there more functions causing problems for non Java
> >  implementators?
>
> The requirement that numbers are represented as per IEEE 754
> is troublesome.  There's no portable way to deal with NaNs
> and infinities in C, C++, or most other languages (C9X makes
> things a little easier, but implementations aren't widely available
> yet.)
>
> The 'string()' function is astonishingly difficult to implement
> correctly without native language support, specifically clause 2,
> subclause 7, XPATH section 4.2: "there must be as many, but only
> as many, more digits as are needed to uniquely distinguish the
> number from all other IEEE 754 numeric values."

This isn't a Java issue though. Pretty much all modern, 
general-purpose CPUs that implement floating point use IEEE 754. As 
well as Java, so do many C, C++, and Fortran compilers. The decision 
was to go with an existing, well-known, well-understood, 
well-supported, true standard. Failure of some languages, compilers, 
and libraries to properly implement that standard is a very different 
issue than tying XSLT to a non-standard, proprietary API.
--

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| Elliotte Rusty Harold | elharo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx | Writer/Programmer |
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