[Gcl-devel] Re: gmp splitting out multi-precision floating point

[Paul F. Dietz]

Camm Maguire wrote:
> Greetings!  Currently, we just use the integer functions from gmp, so
> the separation of the multi-precision floating point ('mpf') routines
> into a separate mpfr lib will not affect us.  But this brought to mind
> the question -- can common lisp make use of multi-precision floating
> point? 

There might be problems with the values of the *-epsilon and
(most/least)-(positive/negative)-*-float constants, if long floats
(say) were defined to have variable precision.

If you just mean: a large but constant precision, there shouldn't
be any problem with that as long as the precision is at least as
great as required by the standard for that particular float type.

It's also legal to add additional float types beyond the four
standardized ones, and to make these be subtypes of float (disjoint
from the standardized ones.)

        Paul