But, then again, I've been wrong before and maybe there are good reasons that perl on linux decides to indulge in what are, to me, nothing more than gimmicks for the feeble-minded. That being the case, precisely what *are* those "good reasons" ?

Because they can and it costs them nothing :) Its part of the standard? 

perl -V:d_isnanl -V:d_isnan -V:d_isinf -V:d_isfinite

[download]
http://search.cpan.org/grep?cpanid=RGARCIA&release=perl-5.10.0&string=NaN&n=1&C=0#pod/perlfunc.pod

In reply to Re: nans, infs, and vomit by Anonymous Monk
in thread nans, infs, and vomit by syphilis

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