Larry Wall wrote:
: ---------------------------------------------------------------------
: Num : : Base Numeric type
: Int : :
: Float : :
: Complex : :
This bothers me. The reason we put in Num in the first place was to
get rid of things like Float and Double. Every time I see "Float"
or "Double" in a Perl 6 program I will feel like a failure.
I'd suggest the the concepts of "Real" and "Int" are sufficiently
distinct to warrant types (The term "Float" is bad IMO because it
implies a specific style of implementation -- A Real could, in
principle, be implemented as a fixed-point value).
An Int is Enumerable: each value that is an Int has well defined succ
and pred values. Conversely, a Real does not -- and so arguably should
not support the ++ and -- operators. Amonst other differences, a
Range[Real] is an infinite set, whereas a Range[Int] has a finite
cardinality.
(perhaps this discussion belongs on p6l)
