Re: Decimal versus binary arithmetic was Re: J4 - presentation/discussion on "Future of the COBOL Standard"

On Fri, 04 Apr 2008 19:51:24 -0600, Robert <no@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:

>>Packed decimal was never marketed as a Need.   It was marketed as an
>>efficiency option.   Saving space used to be a significant cost
>>factor.   
>
>Binary takes 20% less space in memory. 

Compromises are often the best solution.

>> Also, packed decimal was (and is) significantly quicker in
>>when the application wants Display and computational use of the same
>>number.
>
>Why was it used when the application did not need both formats, which was
most of the
>time?

Please give me figures showing that it was used that way most of the
time.   

Although how often something is mis-used does not indicate that it is
a bad idea.

>>>If they did it in binary and got right answers, people would find out.
Then the decimal
>>>ruse would be discredited. 
>>
>>Most of us never saw a "ruse".   Probably this was because we
>>understood what packed-decimal was all about and made our choices
>>accordingly.   
>
>If you all truly understood what packed was all about, you all wouldn't
have used it. 

Why not?   I already told you when it is useful, and why.   Your
response was that most people used it other ways - therefore I
shouldn't have used it.    Your reply seems to be of a Religious
nature, not one based upon logic.

>>We also don't have our identity tied into understanding everything -
>>so when we do find that we had a misunderstanding, we don't need to
>>find someone to blame for trying to fool us.
>
>The brave new world would be better if people could just get along.
Pointing out mistakes
>is against social harmony, thus antisocial. A soma 'holiday' will relieve
bad memories and
>insure social stabilization. 

A world without change has some advantages - of course the saber tooth
tigers would still be ignoring our harmony.