Linux and the 'clssic' computing world

[dave.g4ugm at gmail.com]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: cctalk <cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org> On Behalf Of Van Snyder via
> cctalk
> Sent: 28 September 2021 23:34
> To: cctalk at classiccmp.org
> Subject: Re: Linux and the 'clssic' computing world
> 
> On Tue, 2021-09-28 at 17:03 -0500, Jay Jaeger via cctalk wrote:
> > > On 2021-09-28 11:43 a.m., Vincent Long standing via cctalk wrote:
> > >
> > > > The C standards are more liberal, and continue to require char
> > > > types to be 8 or more bits.
> > > Was PL/I the only language that would let you select data size for
> > > variables? Of course the fine print would not let you have more than
> > > 16 decimal digits, or 32 bit binary. You would think by now that a
> > > language could handle any length data.
> > >
> >
> > Hardly.
> >
> > FORTRAN:  INTEGER*4 INTEGER*8 (and sometimes INTEGER*2 - e.g. Sun
> > FORTRAN-77)  was common, though never adopted as a standard.  Also
> > REAL vs. DOUBLE.
> 
> Fortran 90 introduced "kind type parameters" for all types. For REAL, one can
> use SELECTED_REAL_KIND to ask for a specific number of decimal digits. The
> standard does not require any minimum number be required.
> Both "default real" and double precision are required. Many processors
> provide quad precision. For INTEGER, one can use SELECTED_INT_KIND.
> Processors are required to provide at least one kind with at least 18 decimal
> digits. There is no specification which other sizes are required.

REXX has had this ability from the start. It only does decimal arithmetic, but you can set the number of numeric digits used to whatever you want

Dave