----- Original Message -----
From: "Steve Sabram" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
> I guess you haven't worked in form factors this small before eh?
He probably hasn't, else he wouldn't be asking a question. Is this a list for
helping folks in general, or just for big shots who know all the answers who
don't need to ask questions? I think an apology is owed to the person for
simply asking a question.
> At least you are getting this and not having to parse the bit field of the
double yourself like one project I did for a an 8-bit
> microcontroller a few years back.
I suppose you are too busy to share any of your incredible knowledge?
Obviously, you know FAR more than the rest of us.
> That is not much for your users but way too much for Palm. Floating point
management routines can eat up CPU and memory like you
> wouldn't believe. This is why all of the early PC's had separate math
coprocessors with each development environment shipping
> separate libraries for different floating point types.
Is this not the 21st century? Shouldn't we expect a bit more rather than each
programmer reinventing the wheel, each time eating more memory?
> Get out of the PC / desktop mindset. You are no longer in Kansas anymore.
>
> I'll quote it again, "The only thing worse than a user expecting a Palm to
act like a Pentium PC is a Palm developer expecting the
> compatibility of a Sun Workstation."
The only thing worse than a library is one that no one can use. I agree with
the gentleman asking a simple question. Getting an answer in exponential
notation isn't of much use when you *still* have to hand write your own
routine to *still* put it in a readable format. To me, the Palm routine seems
like a waste of memory.
Which is better: a library of floating point routines written by professionals
and are probably compact, or a multitude of sub-optimal floating point
routines among a dozen Palm aps?
Yes, the Palm was only designed to store information. However, it is time to
come to terms that people are using this versatile device for MUCH more than
that.
BTW, when you work in embedded aps (aka 'Rhode Island'), the Palm looks a lot
like 'Texas'.
>
> And another quote, "It's only a 16 MHz, 68K machine!"
...And I had floating point routines in the OS of a 2MHz 16KB 6800 machine
*better* than those provided in the Palm, and of much more use!!! What is your
point?
> There is plenty of freeware routines out there for this. Happy hunting
That's a really a worthwhile response.
For the rest of us worthless scum out there trying to absorb the Palm platform
I'll try to provide some help.
I'd like to direct the person originally requesting the help to do a search
for the MathLib shared libraries. They appear to be an excellent resource, and
a solution to the (non personality) problems I mentioned above, although I do
not know if they will directly address your string to floating problem or not.
"The only dumb question is the one not asked." The only dumb answer is the one
patronizing the person for asking a question.
Regards,
Tim
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