Thomas Bushnell BSG wrote:
> I, for one, am not confident that IEEE arithmetic is perfect.  I am
> very confident that the experts who designed that standard will
> someday need a new one.

The IEEE 754-1985 standard is already "overdue for revision," according
to the working group (http://grouper.ieee.org/groups/754/revision.html).
There's a revision in progress, "since 2000, with a target completion
date of December 2005" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_754r).
However, it looks like there may be problems with the revision.

I would hope that anyone reviewing IEEE-754 features for Scheme is
already familiar with the revision and its current status. It'd be silly
to adopt a 20-year-old standard just a few months before a major
revision. Then again, it might be silly to wait on the new draft, given
its troubles. Either way, arguments should at least take it into
account.
--
Bradd W. Szonye
http://www.szonye.com/bradd