>>>>> "SM" == Stavros Macrakis <macrakis@gmail.com> writes:
SM> Lisp arithmetic should be compatible with IEEE float arithmetic.
There are cases where other forms of floats make sense.
Such as posits or arbitrary precision floats.
(The underlying hardware may lack fp, or may use posits or the like.)
Packages like maxima should work even when non-754 formats are used.
Is there any existing lisp that doesn't support IEEE single and double precision floats? I'm not aware of any. I don't see any chip maker supporting posits and removing IEEE floats anytime soon. That might break all kinds of important code. (I saw Kahan debate Gustafson about this a few years ago at an ARITH conf. Really interesting.)
Clisp has long-floats that are arbitrary precision. Cmucl has double-double-floats. I think maxima might still support building with these as the default float type, but since they're significantly slower than IEEE floats, I don't think anyone uses this ability. (And if the code still exists, I'd propose removing it, at least for cmucl.)