I think a problem occured when i used long()

[Porky Pig Jr]

Paul Rubin <http://phr.cx@NOSPAM.invalid> wrote in message news:<7xisax8lbm.fsf at ruckus.brouhaha.com>...
> 
> The x86 supports 80 bit extended floats and I hope Python has a way to
> use them (maybe with a build option). 
> 

Very interesting. Probably special C directive (unless something like
'extended float' is some kind of C (unofficial) standard. I'll check
x86 architecture reference.

Incidently, if I recall, the arguments against 'very high precision'
was coming from scientists (e.g. those dealing with quantum mechanics
issues) rather than from programmers. The main argument was that the
measuring tools' precision is soo well below 53bit precision available
as 'C double' that using anything higher than that will mistakenly
create the impression of 'very high precision of the experiment' - but
this is just it - *mistakenly*.
 

> I'd had the impression that some of the PowerPC processors support 128
> bit floats, but I'm not sure of that.  And it may be limited to IBM
> workstation processors, not Macs.