float / double support in Python?

[Brandon Van Every]

John Machin wrote:
> "Brandon Van Every" <vanevery at 3DProgrammer.com> wrote in message
> news:<ltC0a.2919$tO2.327679 at newsread1.prod.itd.earthlink.net>...
>> Terry Reedy wrote:
>>>
>>> Python proper only uses 'floats' which (for CPython) are 8 byte C
>>> doubles.
>>
>> Um, that's like, absolutely brain-dead to a 3D game developer.
>
> Perhaps you might take a few moments to explain what the problem is.

I've answered some of this in another post but I'll add a few more tidbits.

> How many floating point values do you have
> in your data structures in a typical 3D game?

millions

> What is the market memory constraint -- 128Mb home PC?

No, the point of Python is it's portable.  The platform is arbitrary, it
could be consoles.  It may be next generation consoles, I'm not anywhere
near ready to ship.  But I can never assume "oh well, I'll just have a big
honking PC with tons of memory and performance to burn."  There's always
this differential between PC and console specs.  You have to pick a least
common denominator somewhere.

> You may find it worthwhile to set up a C extension that manages your
> data structures in a memory-efficient fashion and does the major
> number-crunching,

Not C.  C++, fine.  Which is the subject of another thread....

--
Cheers,                         www.3DProgrammer.com
Brandon Van Every               Seattle, WA

20% of the world is real.
80% is gobbledygook we make up inside our own heads.