Dale Stanbrough wrote: > Here's my prediction... > > the round off requirements will be changed to meet the > C/C++/Java implementations. > > Given the proliferation of business/internet software that don't even > realise that there is a problem, legislators will be faced with a > fait-accompli, and will accept the status quo. Try telling that to a mutual fund manager who lives or dies on based on a few basis points (a basis point is 1/100th of a percent)! It is okay if you fudge the numbers and make the manager look good, but woe to you if the numbers make the manager look bad. This round-off problem becomes real noticable if an analyst runs through the same set of computations with a desk calculator and gets a different answer than the program. Business desk calculators typically support 18 decimal digits and perform all math in decimal. Analysts may accept slightly inaccurate numbers for non-critical uses such as customer presentations, audits and accountants want dead on accurracy. Hence the large number of accounting applications written in COBOL or PL/1 still running on mainframes. I do not see this situation changing any time soon. This issue is a strong selling point for Ada and one I raise every chance I get. Is the accuracy of the result just another facet of reliability? Is not reliability the big advantage of Ada over C/C++? David Koogler Boolean Solutions, Ltd.