Re: [xsl] format-number() causing problems to non-javaimplementators

[Elliotte Rusty Harold <elharo at metalab dot unc dot edu>]

At 10:05 AM -0800 1/17/01, Joe English wrote:

>>  BTW: Are there more functions causing problems for non Java
>>  implementators?
>
>The requirement that numbers are represented as per IEEE 754
>is troublesome.  There's no portable way to deal with NaNs
>and infinities in C, C++, or most other languages (C9X makes
>things a little easier, but implementations aren't widely available
>yet.)
>
>The 'string()' function is astonishingly difficult to implement
>correctly without native language support, specifically clause 2,
>subclause 7, XPATH section 4.2: "there must be as many, but only
>as many, more digits as are needed to uniquely distinguish the
>number from all other IEEE 754 numeric values."
>

This isn't a Java issue though. Pretty much all modern, 
general-purpose CPUs that implement floating point use IEEE 754. As 
well as Java, so do many C, C++, and Fortran compilers. The decision 
was to go with an existing, well-known, well-understood, 
well-supported, true standard. Failure of some languages, compilers, 
and libraries to properly implement that standard is a very different 
issue than tying XSLT to a non-standard, proprietary API.
-- 

+-----------------------+------------------------+-------------------+
| Elliotte Rusty Harold | elharo@metalab.unc.edu | Writer/Programmer |
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