[Info-vax] New VSI Roadmap (yipee!)

[David Froble]

Richard Maher wrote:
> On 3/2/2015 11:09 AM, David Froble wrote:
>>
>> Regardless, what's a language doing, not having a rounding function?
> 
> Why is any serious commercial programmer implementing money as a 
> floating-point datatype?

In 1973 the only data types supported by RSTS/E were word integers, 
single and double FP, and strings.  At that time we used what was available.

> Coins are round so PI could come in handy?
> 
> If your languages does not support scaled integers then toss it out and 
> user the right tool for the job. Heard the same bullshit from C and 
> Pascal programmers for too long.
> 
> C.o.B.O.L the clue is in the name.
> 
> Having said that, would BASIC's DECIMAL type be any use and would 
> lib$callG save a call-frame on the stack?
> 

Yes, DECIMAL would do the job.

We're talking dozens of customers, each with hundreds of files, and 
years of historical data, and over 1700 programs with over 1.5 million 
lines of code.

For forty years the use of D-float for US currency has worked, and 
worked well.  Any change would not provide any benefits.  So I ask:

Should all the customers be subjected to an expense, possible errors, 
possible downtime, for no real gains?  Are you going to convince them to 
do this?

Maybe all the "purists" want to foot the cost of the work?

What's the gain?

If it ain't broke, why try to fix it?

How many millions of dollars would you spend for a penny?

The issue is a rounding function in the language, not what data type 
someone uses for currency.