Re: Lack of mathematical constants in (ANSI) <math.h>

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Article #29

#29

From: Henry Spencer
Date: Thu, 29 Oct 1992 18:33

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In article <BwtHFu.qs@research.canon.oz.au> andy@research.canon.oz.au (Andy Newman) writes:
>Adding constants to an include file does not `load down' the language.
>You don't use it, you don't see it...

Unless you happen to have used the same name yourself, for that or some
other purpose.  This sort of name-space pollution was of real concern
to X3J11.

>    1) It always used to be

Nope.  It definitely wasn't there in V7.  It got added sometime in the
1980s.

>The question is a serious one, and we would still be interested in an
>answer from someone on the Standards committee.

I'd be curious too.  While the case for including assorted random constants
doesn't seem as strong as Andy has been claiming, it isn't insignificant.
The ANSI Rationale doesn't address the issue.
-- 
MS-DOS is the OS/360 of the 1980s.      | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
              -Hal W. Hardenbergh (1985)|  henry@zoo.toronto.edu  utzoo!henry

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Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!sparky!uunet!utcsri!utzoo!henry
From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Lack of mathematical constants in (ANSI) <math.h>
Message-ID: <BwwBKo.Axt@zoo.toronto.edu>
Date: Thu, 29 Oct 1992 18:33:52 GMT
References: <BwIG2J.G27@research.canon.oz.au> <BwMt54.D5I@NCoast.ORG> <BwtHFu.qs@research.canon.oz.au>
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