From: the.beez.speaks@gmail.com   
      
   On 09-04-2025 04:21, dxf wrote:   
   > On 9/04/2025 1:15 am, dxf wrote:   
   >> ...   
   >> It's not SET-PRECISION (presumably the implementer has made that sane)   
   >> but rather variability when values are sane e.g.   
   >>   
   >>>> 6 set-precision  ok   
   >>>> 1e-4 f.  0.000100000  ok   
   >>>>   
   >>>> 6 set-precision  ok   
   >>>> 1e-4 f. 0.0001  ok   
   >>   
   >> While both of those are numerically correct, they're plainly different i.e.   
   >> 11 characters vs. 6 characters.  As an app writer I'd like some uniformity   
   >> here as I might want to output several columns of numbers on a screen.  To   
   >> do that I need to know how wide to make those columns.   
   >> ...   
   >   
   > Iforth's F. was previously mentioned.  In addition to treating PRECISION as   
   > a decimal points specifier (ok it was their decision) F. includes mode   
   > switching based on something called 'fieldwidth' for which I could find no   
   > reference.  Is mode switching good or bad?  As always - it depends.  I've   
   > yet to see a bank statement with the balance displayed in scientific   
   > notation.  (But then I'm not Elon Musk so who knows.)   
   >   
   > I mention this to demonstrate the variability that exists across forth -   
   > presumably because Forth-94 chose not to think it through leaving folks   
   > to their own devices.  REPRESENT ?  Well, I could rant about that too :)   
      
   I've never been an avid FP wordset user, so I must admit I've never   
   delved so deep into it. But when I did (last night) I thought "Darn,   
   he's right!"   
      
   1. I remember my spreadsheet having a way to set the number of decimals.   
   So I looked there. It used F.R to use that result - and to my surprise   
   (it seems .R little brother) AFAIK it's not part of the FP wordset;   
      
   2. So I looked in the standard (obvious when you're coming from F.R) and   
   no - nothing special there: "Set the number of significant digits". Well   
   that's helpful. But do you mean "significant digits" the way I mean   
   "significant digits"? I don't think so.. The beauty of "most significant   
   digits of the significand" didn't escape me, though. Merriam Webster,   
   "significant": "of a noticeably or measurably large amount". Almost like   
     "most", you mean. ;-)   
      
   3. If I can't find any help there, try elsewhere. Like C++. There   
   "Precision" really means "Precision" - aka "the number of significant   
   digits in the mantissa". Which in my book means 19 for a 64-bit mantissa   
   and 9 for a 32-bit mantissa - if someone is unsure of what I mean.   
   "fixed" however, is the keyword in C++ that switches this meaning to the   
   number of decimals. If I understand you correctly, that's how iForth   
   actually works.   
      
   I see two ways out of this:   
   a. Add F.R to the standard;   
   b. Add SET-DECIMALS or SET-FIXED to the standard.   
      
   And finally, add a section to the Annex to define and clarify the whole   
   darn thing (because IMHO that is dearly missing).   
      
   Hans Bezemer   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)