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<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial><SPAN
class=083540415-16102025>It is because floating-point arithmetic is extremely
complex and mathematically subtle. The 'base standard' for it is IEEE 754
(first published in 1985, 40 years ago) and the details are still being refined
and improved today (the third, "2029", revision is in progress). C
floating point support was not ideal, initially, and has been hugely improved
over the years by the efforts of the CFP working group -- who have had quite a
task maintaining backwards-compatibility, while adding new features from IEEE
754 such as decimal floating point (on which our financial systems are totally
dependent nowadays).</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial><SPAN
class=083540415-16102025></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial><SPAN
class=083540415-16102025>Mike Cowlishaw<BR><A
href="mailto:mfc@speleotrove.com">mfc@speleotrove.com</A><BR><A
href="https://speleotrove.com/mfc/">https://speleotrove.com/mfc/</A></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
class=083540415-16102025></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
class=083540415-16102025></SPAN></FONT> </DIV><BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE
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<FONT size=2 face=Tahoma><B>From:</B> cfp-interest
[mailto:cfp-interest-bounces@oakapple.net] <B>On Behalf Of </B>Marcus
Johnson<BR><B>Sent:</B> 12 October 2025 05:09<BR><B>To:</B> Robert
Seacord<BR><B>Cc:</B> CFP; SC22 WG14<BR><B>Subject:</B> [cfp-interest 3650]
Re: [SC22WG14.34140] CFP teleconference - Wednesday, October
15<BR></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr>I'm not angry or trying to say it's not worthy or anything, I'm
truly just trying to understand why I see so many meetings for it.</DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite">On Oct 11, 2025, at 8:53 PM, Robert Seacord
<rcseacord@gmail.com> wrote:<BR><BR></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite">
<DIV dir=ltr>
<DIV>I think CFP is doing a good job, and it's not costing anyone anything,
so what's the beef?
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>rCs</DIV></DIV><BR>
<DIV class="gmail_quote gmail_quote_container">
<DIV class=gmail_attr dir=ltr>On Sat, Oct 11, 2025, 8:13 PM Marcus Johnson
<<A
href="mailto:marcusljohnson1991@gmail.com">marcusljohnson1991@gmail.com</A>>
wrote:<BR></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=gmail_quote
style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex">
<DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr>The latter, why does the C language need so much effort to
support floating point types?</DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><BR></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr>Does C++ require this much effort for the same support, or
does it get it for free?</DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><BR></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr>Seems like something compiler implementers would need to
support, not the language it's self.</DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite">On Oct 11, 2025, at 12:48 PM, Jim Thomas <<A
href="mailto:jaswthomas@sbcglobal.net" rel=noreferrer
target=_blank>jaswthomas@sbcglobal.net</A>>
wrote:<BR><BR></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite">
<DIV dir=ltr>
<DIV>The C Abstract says, "Its purpose is to promote portability,
reliability, maintainability, and efficient execution of C language
programs on a variety of computing systems.” Are you asking why that
purpose needs to cover programs that use floating point? Or, are you
asking why fulfilling that purpose for floating point needs to be so
complicated? Or something else?</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>- Jim Thomas</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite">
<DIV>On Oct 9, 2025, at 9:02 AM, Marcus Johnson <<A
href="mailto:marcusljohnson1991@gmail.com" rel=noreferrer
target=_blank>marcusljohnson1991@gmail.com</A>> wrote:</DIV><BR>
<DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr>Sorry for interrupting, but exactly does C need to devote
so much energy to floating point types?</DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><BR></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr>Like, there's the sign bit, the exponent, an implicit
bit, and the mantissa.</DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><BR></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr>Why so much effort?</DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite">On Oct 9, 2025, at 10:59 AM, Jim Thomas
<<A href="mailto:jaswthomas@sbcglobal.net" rel=noreferrer
target=_blank>jaswthomas@sbcglobal.net</A>>
wrote:<BR><BR></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite">
<DIV dir=ltr>
<DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>The next teleconference of the C Floating-Point Study Group
will be <BR><BR>Wednesday, October 15, 2025<BR><SPAN dir=ltr>8
AM PDT</SPAN> / <SPAN dir=ltr>3 PM UTC</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>A draft agenda for this teleconference, including directions
for joining the Zoom meeting, and minutes from previous
teleconferences are posted on the CFP wiki <<A
href="https://wiki.edg.com/bin/view/CFP/WebHome" rel=noreferrer
target=_blank>https://wiki.edg.com/bin/view/CFP/WebHome</A>>
(contact me if you need login info).</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><SPAN>- Jim Thomas </SPAN>
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