Re: Proposal: Arbitrary precision native scalar type

On Thu, 7 Dec 2023, Alex Pravdin wrote: > Accounting for all of the above, I suggest adding a native numeric > scalar arbitrary precision type called "decimal". Below are the > preliminary requirements for implementation. Adding a new native type to PHP will create a large change. Not only is it "just" adding a new native type, it also means all of the conversions between types need to be added. This is not a small task. > Decimal values can be created from literals by specifying a modifier or using > the (decimal) typecast: > > $v = 0.2d; > $v = (decimal) 0.2; // Creates a decimal value without intermediary float > > It uses the precision and scale defined in php.ini. If you want to use arbitrary precision natives, then a precision and scale as defined in php.ini defeats the purpose. Every installation can then potentially calculate things in a different way. The only way how to prevent that, is to have *actual* Decimal type, such as the Decimal type in MongoDB uses (the IEEE 754 decimal128 type): - https://www.mongodb.com/docs/mongodb-shell/reference/data-types/#std-label-shell-type-decimal - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimal128_floating-point_format cheers, Derick -- https://derickrethans.nl | https://xdebug.org | https://dram.io Author of Xdebug. Like it? Consider supporting me: https://xdebug.org/support mastodon: @derickr@phpc.social @xdebug@phpc.social