bear scripsit:

> First, there is the well-known problematic property of binary-mantissa
> and binary-exponent representation that no decimal fraction can be
> exactly represented. This is of course is shared with virtually all
> languages except those (Ada I think, and maybe COBOL) which insist on
> exact decimal fractions in their spec.

The Rexx family (including Object Rexx and NetRexx) also insist on exact
decimal fractions.  Java provides exact decimal fractions in a library,
but there is no syntax for them, so coercions from int, float, or string
constants must be performed at run time.  COBOL provides exact decimal
fractions and allows machine-specific floats and ints as common extensions.

--
Ambassador Trentino: I've said enough. I'm a man of few words.
Rufus T. Firefly: I'm a man of one word: scram!
        --Duck Soup                     John Cowan <xxxxxx@ccil.org>