On Fri, 2011-02-25 at 00:57 +0000, Grant Edwards wrote: > On 2011-02-25, Westley Mart?nez <aniko...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > Maybe I'm wrong, but wouldn't compiling Python with a compiler that > > supports extended precision for intermediates allow Python to use > > extended precision for its immediates? > > I'm not sure what you mean by "immediates", but I don't think so. For > the C compiler to do an optimization like we're talking about, you > have to give it the entire expression in C for it to compile. From > the POV of the C compiler, C-Python never does more than one FP > operation at a time when evaluating Python bytecode, and there aren't > any intemediate values to store. > > > Or does Python use its own floating-point math? > > No, but the C compiler has no way of knowing what the Python > expression is. > > -- > Grant > > >
I meant to say intermediate. I think I understand what you're saying. Regardless, the point is the same; floating-point numbers are different from real numbers and their limitations have to be taken into account when operating on them. -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list