Number to VT_DECIMAL

>
> Hi, I'm preparing a method to write a given Pharo's numerical value into an
> external variant of type VT_DECIMAL. The purpose of this type is to retain
> accuracy, it uses 12 bytes for "mantissa" and two bytes for a sign and a
> scale (i. e. the position of decimal point). What would be the best approach
> for the conversion, taken all the possible subclasses of class Number, that
> is a Float, a Fraction and the Integers, and to keep the accuracy at the
> same level?
>
> For instance, Fraction's numerator and denominator could be directly imputed
> into VT_DECIMAL's value and scale if denominator is a power of 10. What to
> do in other cases?
>
> A nice description of VT_DECIMAL is  here
> <https://bytecomb.com/vba-internals-decimal-variables-and-pointers-in-depth/>
> .
>
> Best wishes,
> Tomaz
>
>
>
> --
> Sent from: http://forum.world.st/Pharo-Smalltalk-Users-f1310670.html
>

>
> VT_DECIMAL sounds like a very close match to ScaledDecimal.
> Or it would if ScaledDecimal were consistently implemented between Smalltalks.
> The intent behind ScaledDecimal in the ANSI Smalltalk standard appears to
> have been an (m,p) representation where m and p are Integers standing for
> m * 10^p, for interoperation with DECIMAL fields in SQL databases (and of
> course with legacy code in COBOL and PL/I). This
> seems clear enough: 'Scaled decimal objects provide a precise representation of
> decimal fractions with an explicitly specified number of fractional digits.'
>
> That's not what VisualWorks, Squeak, and Pharo actually do.  Instead
> they use a (q,p)
> representation where q is an *arbitrary* Fraction and p just says how many
> decimal places to *print*.  This leads to some very confusing results, and means
> that the class *invented* to handle decimal fixed point is no more
> helpful to you in
> Pharo than Fraction is.  The reason VW gives is that it "seems useful" that
> 1000s0/7 * 7 should equal 1000s0, but that's actually *not* a useful
> property for an
> interoperability class.  If I want a Fraction, I know where to find
> it, and if I want it
> printed to a certain number of decimal places, I know how to do *that* without
> needing a complete number class for the purpose.
>
> VisualAge Smalltalk represents a decimal number as an array of 17 bits, which is
> a bit more adequate than VT_DECIMAL, and is precisely the IBM mainframe
> "packed decimal" format with an extra byte for a scale.
>
> So what should you do?  Basically, a VT_DECIMAL is a pair (m,p,s) where
> m between: 0 and: (2 raisedTo: 96) - 1, p between: 0 and: 28, and
> s between: 0 and 1.  So
>
> Number
>   methods for: 'converting'
>     asVtDecimalParts: p "p is the desired scale"
>       |m s|
>       s := 0.
>       m := (self * (10 raisedToInteger: p)) rounded.
>       m < 0 ifTrue: [s := 1. m := m negated].
>       ^Array with: m with: p with: s
>
> Note that with a Fraction, saying "is the denominator a power of 10,
> and if so which?"
> won't work, because 7/5 has a denominator that is not a power of 10 but it is
> exactly representable as 1.4s1.  And in both ANSI Smalltalk and VT_DECIMAL,
> the numbers 1.4s1, 1.40s2, 1.400s3, and so on are distinguishable.  So the scale
> *has* to be something over and above the numeric value.  To put it another way,
> the scale is determined by what the external application WANTS, not what the
> Smalltalk code HAS.
>
> On Wed, 9 Oct 2019 at 09:24, eftomi <[hidden email]> wrote:
> >
> > Hi, I'm preparing a method to write a given Pharo's numerical value into an
> > external variant of type VT_DECIMAL. The purpose of this type is to retain
> > accuracy, it uses 12 bytes for "mantissa" and two bytes for a sign and a
> > scale (i. e. the position of decimal point). What would be the best approach
> > for the conversion, taken all the possible subclasses of class Number, that
> > is a Float, a Fraction and the Integers, and to keep the accuracy at the
> > same level?
> >
> > For instance, Fraction's numerator and denominator could be directly imputed
> > into VT_DECIMAL's value and scale if denominator is a power of 10. What to
> > do in other cases?
> >
> > A nice description of VT_DECIMAL is  here
> > <https://bytecomb.com/vba-internals-decimal-variables-and-pointers-in-depth/>
> > .
> >
> > Best wishes,
> > Tomaz
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Sent from: http://forum.world.st/Pharo-Smalltalk-Users-f1310670.html
> >