[PD] why does PD round numbers? (in tables, in messageboxes, etc)

[katja]

On Sun, Apr 8, 2012 at 1:33 PM, Matteo Sisti Sette
<matteosistisette at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On 04/08/2012 04:58 AM, Martin Peach wrote:
>>
>> It's because Pd saves the value by printing it as text into the patch
>> file using a reduced precision format specifier (%g instead of %f, or
>> %0.6f) so that the numbers look good on screen, with no extra zeros for
>> example.
>> I don't like it either.
>
>
> I wonder how can anyone possibly like that


I've once compiled (vanilla) Pd with the format specifiers changed to
print up to 8 significant digits, and soon found why it is normally
done with 6 digits max. You get things like this:

33 * 0.3 = 9.900001

That is because binary numbers round differently than decimal numbers.
The default format with maximum 6 significant digits avoids some of
the confusion, but some (rare) inconsistencies still happen with 6
significant digits, like this one:

7.1 - 7 = 0.0999999

In MaxMsp this is handled like so: if the numbox is too small to show
the 0.0999999, it shows 0.1 followed by however many trailing zero's
fit in the numbox. Pd instead, shows 0.09 if the numbox width is 4.
Also in MaxMsp you can create for example [* 1073741824.] (2^30, a
number which can be expressed with exactness in single precision float
format). If you try to create [* 1073741825.], it automatically
creates [* 1073741824.], because 1073741825. can't be expressed in
single precision.

Would be super to have such careful handling and storage of floats in
Pd. MaxMsp demonstrates that it is somehow possible.

Katja