Re: Difficulties with Flat XML under source control

On 06/20/2012 03:07 PM, Dennis E. Hamilton wrote:
> I think it is necessary to look at round-trip out-in conversion preservation.
>
> For out-in (which this is, presumably), you want to record a decimal expression of the internal 
> value that will convert back to the exact internal value on re-input.  (The in-out case is that the 
> input conversion provide whatever internal representation that will convert to the read value on 
> re-output.  Without additional information, it is generally very difficult to have these be the 
> same.)
>
> It is also desirable, of course, that any other ODF consumer use the same technique so that its 
> in-out conversion satisfies the out-in condition of the original source of the decimal expression 
> of the value.
>
> There are old technical papers on how to have this work.  The name David Matula comes to mind.
>
> There might be solutions in the conversions that exist in the basic Java classes for float data 
> types.  I think this was addressed in Common Lisp also.

Hasn't there been progress in that field recently?  Wait, yes, 
<http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1806623> "Printing floating-point 
numbers quickly and accurately with integers" by Florian Loitsch.

Stephan