Re: \tempo should accept floats

[David Kastrup]

Werner LEMBERG <address@hidden> writes:

>> Sorry I can’t comment on techniques of implementation, but for
>> user’s sake we should allow input like
>>
>>   \tempo 2 = 86.83
>>
>> and have Lily output exactly that number, as it was input.

And what happens to

    \tempo 2 = #(/ 155 2)

?  Or any tempo that is the result of calculation?  "For user's sake"
mixing up input and representation to some incoherent mess where values
aren't values any more is ultimately not even doing the elusive "user"
any favor.

> I rather sugggest an extension to have something like
>
>   \tempo <note> = #'(<number> . <markup>)
>
> (or whatever syntax is appropriate) so that we have a textual
> representation of the tempo in the cdr element that gets printed.  The
> car element could then be restricted, say, to fractions.
>
> Example:
>
>   \tempo 2 = #'(8683/1000 . "86.83")

Well, there _is_ #e86.83 to save you from getting your fraction wrong by
an order of magnitude...

So we have a technically feasible proposal on the table.  But, well,
ugh?  I think we are better off with some solution with fixed formatting
(say, ~,1f for inexact numbers) and with the possibility to just use an
override for specifying the desired markup.

-- 
David Kastrup