In article <2025Jan2.165111@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at>,   
   Anton Ertl  wrote:   
   >albert@spenarnc.xs4all.nl writes:   
   >>The confusion between 31E0 (hex) 31E0 (fp) 3.10 is another   
   >>roadblock to Forth newbies.   
   >   
   >Certainly, especially the latter.  The hex problem can be eliminated   
   >by always keeping the BASE as DECIMAL, and writing hex numbers as   
   >$31E0.  The 3.10 tradition and the 31. standard can be addressed with   
   >a variation of your statement:   
   >   
   >   Recognizing a double if it contains no number prefix and one single   
   >   period at the end is obsolescent.   
   >   
   >One step later a standard Forth system could recognize 3.10 as well as   
   >31. and 31e as FP values, #31. as a double-cell integer, and $31e   
   >as a single-cell integer.   
      
   One step further is to use 0x for hex values, and free $ for   
   environment strings.   
   This scheme has so much going for it that I tend to give up   
   the advantage to represent floating points exactly in hex. 1]   
   Then probably one can forget BASE DECIMAL and ban double numbers to   
   an obscure region of a library.   
      
   1] This is not easy. I have been in many projects where floating points   
   were transferred in text, loosing precision. But of course parameters   
   in oil drill samples need not 5 decimal places.   
      
   >   
   >- anton   
      
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