64bit precision floats

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^OO^
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64bit precision floats

Post by ^OO^ »

Hi everyone :-)

A year ago I set out to write a novel calculator but could not get the precision I needed because the floating point values are only 32 bits and I need to use variables of at least 64bits, preferably 80bits. So I dropped PB.
Blitz has the same restriction.

The new IBasic Pro, on ther other hand, CAN do doubles.
But, before I commit to learning IBasic, can you tell me whether PB's math precision has been upgraded yet? (my search failed to turn up any mention of such an upgrade)

Thank you for you kind attention.

Julian
Last edited by ^OO^ on Wed Jun 23, 2004 12:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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blueznl
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Post by blueznl »

nope, not yet

there is a lib that does it, however
( PB6.00 LTS Win11 x64 Asrock AB350 Pro4 Ryzen 5 3600 32GB GTX1060 6GB)
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Post by GPI »

one thing:

Floats (and doubles) are not exact values. A PC can't convert a .4 in binary-system. But we have the same with problem with 1/3.

When you need really exact result: Don't use floats and doubles!
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Froggerprogger
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Post by Froggerprogger »

As a further alternative you might try calculating with fractional digits. See here for the procedures:
viewtopic.php?p=44599#44599
%1>>1+1*1/1-1!1|1&1<<$1=1
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64bit precision floats

Post by ^OO^ »

Thank you for your responses ^_^

There would be lots of high-value variables to process and wrestling with library bodges does not appeal to me. PureBasic's weakness is in the very area where I need it to be strong.

I imagine that the original motive for an all-low-precision-math language was to make it go fast?

FPUs are now optimized for 64bit FLOPS and these are now faster than 32bit FLOPS. There is no reason to retain 32bit floats except that you can't be bothered to update them.

I put in feature requests for better precision. I read responses from other users pointing out that I don't need precision or, if I do, I should make library files.

I waited a year to see if PB would recognize the NEED to provide 64bit doubles. It hasn't happened. I guess that nobody else lobbied for the upgrade so it got no priority. Does this mean I'm the only user that needs real-world math?

Such a shame: PB seems destined to remain a TOY, not a TOOL. I'll look in again next year with my fingers crossed.

I'm sorry if I seem a little acerbic - it's the disappointment.

So then, it's decided: I'm going with IBASIC.

Good bye.

Julian
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Post by Shannara »

I knew that avatar looked familiar. Anyways, agreed. IBasic you say? Now I have to look. Thanks.
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Post by PolyVector »

@^OO^

Purebasic is by no means a "TOY", and to say so based on one missing feature is laughable...

So the only language that meets your expectations came out, when was it? This month? I hope you enjoy posting bugs and requesting features much more in the IBasic forums...

Good Luck! :roll:
Last edited by PolyVector on Tue Jun 15, 2004 9:12 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: 64bit precision floats

Post by PB »

> Such a shame: PB seems destined to remain a TOY, not a TOOL

It's planned for the future, possibly with v4.00 from what Fred has hinted
at in the past. If that's too far away for you (which it appears to be) then
by all means use IBASIC instead if it suits your immediate needs. But it
by no means that PureBasic is a "toy" language -- there are dozens of
professional apps and games written in it.
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64bit precision floats

Post by ^OO^ »

Nice to hear that their is hope for the future.
Press on, Fred - - - 8)

Julian
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Post by geoff »

Maybe not a TOY, but very restricted in serious application.

For example, you cannot calculate a GPS position, predict an eclipse or even do many financial calculations. We are not talking rocket science here, just mainstream applications.

I could go on, but I have said enough on this topic already.

I cannot understand why Fred has given this such a low priority. He could make the language suitable for the majority of applications with this single addition.
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Post by Kale »

I cannot understand why Fred has given this such a low priority. He could make the language suitable for the majority of applications with this single addition.
I would very much like to see this too as soon as poss, it would even make calculating disk sizes (yes even that simple task) so much easier.
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Post by LarsG »

^00^: dude.. you need to change your avatar.. I'm barely able to read the posts!!! 8O

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Post by ^OO^ »

LarsG wrote:^00^: dude.. you need to change your avatar.. I'm barely able to read the posts!!! 8O
OK - Done!

I hope you copied it first - - - :oops:
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Post by LarsG »

^OO^ wrote:
LarsG wrote:^00^: dude.. you need to change your avatar.. I'm barely able to read the posts!!! 8O
OK - Done!

I hope you copied it first - - - :oops:
:lol:
darn, I knew I forgot something... :wink:

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PIII 800MHz, 320 MB RAM, Nvidia Riva Tnt 2 Mach 64 (32MB), WinXP + Linux
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Post by Rings »

LarsG wrote:
^OO^ wrote:
LarsG wrote:^00^: dude.. you need to change your avatar.. I'm barely able to read the posts!!! 8O
OK - Done!

I hope you copied it first - - - :oops:
:lol:
darn, I knew I forgot something... :wink:
of course, i saved it to use later for the lesbian amazon chatroom :)
SPAMINATOR NR.1
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