Re: Lisp reader syntax and bootstrap

[Richard Stallman]

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  > So I instead installed the attached patch. On a VAX this approximates 
  > infinities and NaNs with extremal values and non-numeric objects, 

That's a bit of a kludge -- using those values might be wrong for
some purposes... if this will really happen.

  > This patch shouldn't change behavior (or even the executable code) on 
  > today's platforms. It's purely for computer museums.

If that's true, maybe your solution is fine.

Pu Lu, you wrote

  > I know of one: reader syntax for NaN and Inf cannot be used on machines
  > without IEEE floating point, where they will be read as symbols instead
  > (with possibly disastrous consequences.)

Do you know of a machine where this would really happen?


-- 
Dr Richard Stallman (https://stallman.org)
Chief GNUisance of the GNU Project (https://gnu.org)
Founder, Free Software Foundation (https://fsf.org)
Internet Hall-of-Famer (https://internethalloffame.org)