Re: [Boost-users] cross-platfrom binary serialization?

From: Bo Peng (ben.bob_at_[hidden])
Date: 2008-08-27 16:38:12

> I have an alternate suggestion: what about continued fractions?  Turn the
> floating point value into a list of integers.  This works no matter what
> f.p. systems the source and destination use.  You just need a portable
> integer serialization format.

Then why cannot we use IEEE745 format for float serialization on all systems?

1. If a systems is IEEE745 compatible, serialize float numbers
directly. This will work 99.9% of the times, and will be very
efficient.
2. If a system is not IEEE745 compatible, to serialize a float number,
we write the number as 32 or 64 continuous bits, in IEEE745 format, to
de-serialize a float number, we read the number in IEEE745 formats and
write in native float format. An intermediate string representation
can be used for the translations.

I mean, these continuous IEEE745 bits are equivalent to your "portable
integer serialization format", but will be much more efficient on
IEEE745 compatible systems.

Cheers,
Bo