RE: [boost] Re: Thoughts on Format

From: Paul A. Bristow (boost_at_[hidden])
Date: 2002-01-31 16:44:19

> (What I can say is that the user of width or
> precision determined at run time has been rare.  Probably rarer than it
> should be, but in some cases, it depended on the locale, so it was
> natural to put it into the text files.)

This is one of the most primitive aspects of all formatting
used so far - it very often uses far more digits than are significant,
which makes the printouts confusing to read
(Can you ever put tables straight into reports, papers and books? - I think
not!)
Occasionally, far worse, too few digits make output positively misleading.

Since there is a generation of std::C++_programmers who have never seen a
printf
statement before, I think the preoccuation with the format string,
showing its inheritence from FORTRAN and BASIC,
is rather backward looking (though I can see that some people want it).

|>  In my book the printf rules don't fit this pattern.  Coming up with
|>  something better is not really "reinventing the wheel", its
|>  realising that horse & cart wheels aren't appropriate for modern
|>  cars :o)

> But then we should throw the concept out completely, and invent
> something really new:-).

Longer term I think this is where we should be encouraging efforts.

(I have been exploring ways of printing only the right number of significant
digits,
but this is not yet anywhere near ready for the furnace of Boosters
criticism!)

Paul

Dr Paul A Bristow, hetp Chromatography
Prizet Farmhouse
Kendal, Cumbria
LA8 8AB      UK
[phone]
Mobile [phone]
mailto:pbristow_at_[hidden]

> -----Original Messages-----
> From: kanze_at_[hidden]
and many others
> Subject: Re: [boost] Re: Thoughts on Format
>
>