[Cfp-interest 2496] Re: 5.2.4.2.3 and IEC 60559

[Vincent Lefevre]

On 2022-08-03 21:41:54 -0700, Jim Thomas wrote:
> 5.2.4.2.3 gives the characteristics of the decimal floating types,
> and requires the characteristics to match those of IEC 60559 decimal
> formats. Why does 5.2.4.2.3 need forward references to clause 6? If
> it would be helpful to the reader for 5.2.4.2.3 to say the types are
> IEC 60559 formats, we could pursue that, though it would add nothing
> normative.

Note that 5.2.4.2.2 mentions __STDC_IEC_60559_BFP__ and __STDC_IEC_559__.
So I would expect 5.2.4.2.3 to say that this subclause applies when
__STDC_IEC_60559_DFP__ is defined (while it isn't currently mentioned
at all). If it isn't defined, an implementation could still define
macros from this subclause, but the meaning wouldn't be standardized.

BTW, 5.2.4.2.2 and 5.2.4.2.3 are subclauses of 5.2.4.2 "Numerical limits"
(itself a subclause of 5.2.4 "Environmental limits"), but they actually
specify more than limits.

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