People just wanting to get a reasonable representation of a rather mundane value are who the behavior of a plain print should be catered to.

What "people" are those I wonder? And what do they consider a "reasonable representation"?

  1. The accountant who wants pounds & pence or dollars & cents; say 2dp?
  2. The statistician for whom any more than 1dp would imply greater significance than his data or methods allow?
  3. The games programmer for whom 6dp of life force is probably more than she needs?
  4. How about the rocket scientist for whom that grain of sand on the beach represents the difference between orbital insertion and having the new crater named after them?
  5. How about the dozens that have come here every year for the last decade only to be told that if they want understand perl's confusing default output they've got to go away and read the most unhelpful piece of pretentious elitism; effectively telling them that if they want to understand Perl's default lies output they will have to become "computer scientists".

Just who are these unnamed "people" that are happy to take this unspecified "reasonable representation", even if that means they are being lied to in a way that makes their results bewilderingly confusing.

Just who is being served here? Since I doubt that you would need Perl to lie to you in order to avoid whatever confusion you think seeing the truth will induce; you must feel that there are other "people" who can't handle the truth!. Who are they? And how does having Perl lie to them prevent them from having to become aware of the reality of FP math?

It should be and is optimized for presenting the numeric value to humans.

Where your argument falls apart is that in order for the users of print to know whether they are being lied to; they need to use printf and compare the output. Any effort saved is thus negated entirely.

Better to display the full information by default and allow (everyone) to choose how much of the truth they actually need; than to set some totally arbitrary limit on the truth that means everyone needs to revert to printf to find out whether what is being output by print is actually what they need or not.

With the rise and rise of 'Social' network sites: 'Computers are making people easier to use everyday'
Examine what is said, not who speaks -- Silence betokens consent -- Love the truth but pardon error.
"Science is about questioning the status quo. Questioning authority". I knew I was on the right track :)
In the absence of evidence, opinion is indistinguishable from prejudice.
.

In reply to Re^5: Variables are automatically rounded off in perl (audiences) by BrowserUk
in thread Variables are automatically rounded off in perl by Anonymous Monk

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