From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Stefan Monnier Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: Code for converting between Elisp and Calc floats Date: Sat, 24 Oct 2009 20:56:25 -0400 Message-ID: References: <200910082047.n98KlkAB020482@godzilla.ics.uci.edu> <87aazj2r7d.fsf_-_@vh213601.truman.edu> <87ws2kmuez.fsf@gmail.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1256432205 27417 80.91.229.12 (25 Oct 2009 00:56:45 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Sun, 25 Oct 2009 00:56:45 +0000 (UTC) Cc: vincent.belaiche@gmail.com, emacs-devel@gnu.org To: jay.p.belanger@gmail.com Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sun Oct 25 02:56:38 2009 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.50) id 1N1rPR-0007zb-Fy for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Sun, 25 Oct 2009 02:56:37 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1]:49177 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1N1rPR-0000Q6-57 for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Sat, 24 Oct 2009 20:56:37 -0400 Original-Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1N1rPL-0000Nt-CP for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sat, 24 Oct 2009 20:56:31 -0400 Original-Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1N1rPG-0000IW-LY for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sat, 24 Oct 2009 20:56:30 -0400 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.173] (port=33512 helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1N1rPG-0000IM-Gt for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sat, 24 Oct 2009 20:56:26 -0400 Original-Received: from ironport2-out.teksavvy.com ([206.248.154.183]:6995 helo=ironport2-out.pppoe.ca) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1N1rPG-000894-61 for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sat, 24 Oct 2009 20:56:26 -0400 X-IronPort-Anti-Spam-Filtered: true X-IronPort-Anti-Spam-Result: AvAEAHc/40pLd/m0/2dsb2JhbACBUNQghD8EiDQ X-IronPort-AV: E=Sophos;i="4.44,617,1249272000"; d="scan'208";a="48119789" Original-Received: from 75-119-249-180.dsl.teksavvy.com (HELO pastel.home) ([75.119.249.180]) by ironport2-out.pppoe.ca with ESMTP; 24 Oct 2009 20:56:25 -0400 Original-Received: by pastel.home (Postfix, from userid 20848) id 0759F8225; Sat, 24 Oct 2009 20:56:25 -0400 (EDT) In-Reply-To: <87ws2kmuez.fsf@gmail.com> (Jay Belanger's message of "Sat, 24 Oct 2009 15:03:16 -0500") User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Emacs/23.1.50 (gnu/linux) X-detected-operating-system: by monty-python.gnu.org: Genre and OS details not recognized. X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:116380 Archived-At: >> As for the feature itself, I'm not sure whether I like it. >> Could someone explain exactly what's the rationale behind this >> (e.g. a typical use case), what alternatives were considered, etc...? > Vincent explained this to me, but I expect he'll come along and do a > better job explaining than I can. Is he reading this thread? >> E.g. an "obvious" alternative would be to add builtin "big floats" via >> libgmp or some such. > Using libgmp in Emacs has been discussed in the past, but as I recall > hasn't had much support. It hasn't had much support indeed, mostly for lack of interest in bignums. But if we decide bignums deserve some C code, then maybe libgmp would be a good idea. Then again, without knowing the whys and hows, it's hard to tell. Stefan