Packed decimal versus binary was Re: J4 - presentation/discussion on "Future of

On Mon, 17 Mar 2008 21:53:23 -0600, Robert <no@e.mail> wrote:

>On Tue, 18 Mar 2008 11:33:00 +1300, "Pete Dashwood" <dashwood@removethis.en
ternet.co.nz>
>wrote:
> 
> 
>
>The others were . They thought binary integer was the same as binar
y floating
>point. That's why IBM was able to sell them decimal hardware.
> 

As someone who has coded COBOL starting in 1963 and on the IBM 360
(and descendants) from 1966, obviously you don't understand the
various problems.
 
>
>Binary integer IS fixed point. You're making the same mistake the others ma
de.
>
>I'm but advocating binary floating point, but I'll point out that Excel use
s binary floats
>internally. Millions of accountants use Excel. Why do we not hear stories a
bout rounding
>errors there?

I would like to see the code that actually keeps things straight.
Given my opinion of the accuracy of many spreadsheets and the amount
of testing done, I don't know if people would know whether they had an
error.
>