Forum: Editorial
References: Section 22.3.1 of the ANSI CL specification
Category: CLARIFICATION/CHANGE
Edit History: 2004-08-01, version 1 created by Paul Dietz
Status: For CLiki consideration
- Problem Description:
- The ~D format directive is indicated to act like ~A with decimal printing when the argument is not an integer. The ~R, ~B, ~O, and ~X are described as acting like ~D, but it is not stated specifically that they do the same. Also, it is not clear if the common format parameters between ~D and ~A are passed along to ~A (but see the page for ~F, which implies that the width parameter does get passed along from ~D to ~A.)
- Proposal (FORMAT-RADIX-NONINTEGER:UNIFY)
- Make ~R, ~B, ~O, and ~X be consistent with ~D on non-integer arguments. In this situation, ~B, ~O, and ~X should bind *PRINT-BASE* to 2, 8, or 16 (respectively) then invoke ~A on the argument. ~R should bind *PRINT-BASE* to the radix parameter (if present) and invoke ~A. All of these (and ~D) should invoke ~A with the specified mincol and padchar parameters, if they are present, and ignore commachar and comma-interval.
- Test case:
- Rationale:
- This seems to be the consistent thing to do.
- Current practice:
- Cost to Implementors:
- Cost to Users:
- None.
- Cost of Non-Adoption:
- Benefits:
- Increased consistency.
- Aesthetics:
- Discussion:
- Bruno Haible supports UNIFY.
- Discussion: