Title
Numeric limits terminology wrong
Status
cd1
Section
[support.limits]
Submitter
Stephen Cleary

Created on 1999-12-21.00:00:00 last changed 171 months ago

Messages

Date: 2010-10-21.18:28:33

Proposed resolution:

Change [support.limits] to:

-1- The headers <limits>, <climits>, <cfloat>, and <cinttypes> supply characteristics of implementation-dependent fundamental arithmetic types (3.9.1).

Change [limits] to:

-1- The numeric_limits component provides a C++ program with information about various properties of the implementation's representation of the fundamental arithmetic types.

-2- Specializations shall be provided for each fundamental arithmetic type, both floating point and integer, including bool. The member is_specialized shall be true for all such specializations of numeric_limits.

-4- Non-fundamentalarithmetic standard types, such as complex<T> (26.3.2), shall not have specializations.

Change [numeric.limits] to:

-1- The member is_specialized makes it possible to distinguish between fundamental types, which have specializations, and non-scalar types, which do not.

Date: 2010-10-21.18:28:33

[ Lillehammer: it remains true that numeric_limits is using imprecise language. However, none of the proposals for changed wording are clearer. A redesign of numeric_limits is needed, but this is more a task than an open issue. ]

Date: 1999-12-21.00:00:00

In some places in this section, the terms "fundamental types" and "scalar types" are used when the term "arithmetic types" is intended. The current usage is incorrect because void is a fundamental type and pointers are scalar types, neither of which should have specializations of numeric_limits.

History
Date User Action Args
2010-10-21 18:28:33adminsetmessages: + msg1840
2010-10-21 18:28:33adminsetmessages: + msg1839
1999-12-21 00:00:00admincreate