Why isn't Python king of the hill?

[Martijn Faassen]

Aahz Maruch <aahz at panix.com> wrote:
> In article <9f7ai7$b4e$1 at newshost.accu.uu.nl>,
> Martijn Faassen <m.faassen at vet.uu.nl> wrote:
>>
>>I believe there's a PEP about introducing decimal math into the Python
>>core as the default behavior eventually; there's a thread elsewhere on
>>the newsgroup.

> Not quite.  There's currently a PEP for making the default *rational*
> arithmetic; I'm currently working on a module based on the ANSI standard
> for decimal floating-point arithmetic.  There's already Tim Peters's
> FixedPoint for fixed-point decimal arithmetic.

> I'm staying out of the politics on this one and leaving it to the
> experts; I don't even really know enough to implement decimal
> arithmetic, but I'm doing it anyway.  ;-)

You evidently know far more than I, however.

So there's fixed-point, decimal floating-point and rational arithmetic..
And plain-old-confusing floats. :)

They all involve numbers with points in them.. and when you do math
with them, the answers may be different. That's about the extent
of my knowledge.

Perhaps I can use them in a 'voting system', like mission critical computers
do (in the space shuttle and all). Use all four techniques and average
the results. Or perhaps discard outlying values and then average, or use
a sophisticated weighting system.. Hmm.. :)

Regards,

Martijn
-- 
History of the 20th Century: WW1, WW2, WW3?
No, WWW -- Could we be going in the right direction?