My understanding is that, since Python is based on C, it is IEEE-754 compliant (as long as the CPU is, which I think is true for all the modern CPUs).
Jython might be a different story. (Which, I just learned, is alive and has a new version just released.) Also, I think the Java changed its floating-point support a while ago. >From what I remember, the problem was that they wanted Java code to produce "exactly the same results" in all possible platforms, and in doing so, their floating-point became non-compliant. I guess now they have alternative classes of floating-point routines. On Tue, Jan 20, 2009 at 6:29 PM, rjf <fate...@gmail.com> wrote: > > You might like to read > How Java's floating-point hurts everyone everywhere (1998) > by W Kahan, J D Darcy > and other papers (like Darcy MS thesis). > http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~wkahan/JAVAhurt.pdf > for arguments that suggest Java has certain problems with floating- > point . > > On the other hand, it may be the case that Python's floating-point > spec is worse, > and the same arguments hold against Python. > (I haven't studied it). > > Certainly if you are concerned with the comparison you should be aware > of the paper by Kahan. > As I recall, some of the arguments by Kahan/Dancy may have been > ameliorated somewhat by > further Java refinements. > > If the argument is whether python or java makes a better language for > scripting the access to > scientific libraries, perhaps the subject of this thread should be > something else, and the comparison > should not be between python and java. > > My favorite scripting language is still Lisp, but I have used visual > basic, tcl, jscript, and some others. > > And if you want to look at languages widely used for scientific > computing, there are several, some with the name FORTRAN, > like Fortran 90. > and also Fortress (from Sun). Or C. > > > > On Jan 20, 3:35 am, David Joyner <wdjoy...@gmail.com> wrote: >> Hi: >> >> This is not Sage-specific, but there is an interesting thread >> on the scipy-users list that some people on this list may like to >> follow:http://projects.scipy.org/pipermail/scipy-user/2009-January/019440.html >> In particular, this pagehttp://sites.google.com/site/almarklein/python-3 >> (on python vs matlab) and this >> pagehttp://sites.google.com/site/almarklein/quest >> (on Python as the best for a scientific platform) might be interesting >> to some on this list. > > This last article says, > "The most important argument is that in order to do scientific > computing, you need an interpreted programming language. Still, I > enjoyed coding C# and think it is a great language that allows making > applications in a very short amount of time. > " > > This is quite interesting, but so far as I can tell, entirely > unsupported by anything in the article. > It also suggests that the writer is kind of ignorant of programming > language technology. Perhaps > he means "interactive" rather than "interpreted"? > Or perhaps he means that for the last 50+ years since 1956, all those > people who thought > they were doing "scientific computing" in FORTRAN uh, really couldn't > have been doing that at all? > > RJF > >> >> - David JOyner > > > -- "The main things which seem to me important on their own account, and not merely as means to other things, are knowledge, art, instinctive happiness, and relations of friendship or affection." -Bertrand Russell L. Felipe Martins Department of Mathematics Cleveland State University luizfelipe.mart...@gmail.com --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ To post to this group, send email to sage-devel@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to sage-devel-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sage-devel URLs: http://www.sagemath.org -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
