[cfp-interest 3469] Re: frexp() in Annex F

[Vincent Lefevre]

On 2025-05-26 14:38:37 +1000, Damian McGuckin wrote:
> Currently, the special cases of frexp() are explained using a sentence
> constructed as.
> 
> 	frexp(...) returns RESULT, and stores THING
> 
> 	frexp(...) stores THING (and returns RESULT)
> 
> What is the point of
> 
> a)	the comma in the first case, and
> 
> b)	parenthesising the result (where the input in NaN).
> 
> Comments please?

About b, I suppose that this is because the return result is just
recalled, as it has already been specified in F.10p14: for the other
functions, the case of the NaN argument is always absent. IMHO, the
parenthesised text should be removed or changed into a footnote.

> In a desire for consistency, should these say
> 
> 	returns RESULT and stores THING
> OR
> 	stores THING and returns RESULT

"stores THING and returns RESULT" seems more logical, as returning
a value is always the thing that occurs last.

But I would avoid "stores" as this says what an implementation does
rather than a status or a property (but the implementation does not
have to store anything in the ±∞ case). For instance, I would say:
"the object pointed to by p contains an unspecified value".

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Vincent Lefèvre <vincent at vinc17.net> - Web: <https://www.vinc17.net/>
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