(* func)(fred, bert)

[Ray Dunn]

In article:  <9861 at saturn.ucsc.edu>
Written by:  sidney at saturn.ucsc.edu (Sidney Markowitz )
>In article <1736 at l.cc.purdue.edu> cik at l.cc.purdue.edu (Herman Rubin) writes:
>>To get 100% portable code, it is necessary to be absolutely sure that
>>the same results occur in all installations, [...etc. ...]
>
>Real programs have a purpose, and 100% portable code merely has to
>achieve that purpose on any system for which the purpose makes sense.

Hmmm.  I think if you had been following the discussion more carefully you
would have realized that that is exactly the point that Herman was trying to
make.  To quote his last line in the posting you quote:

>>  Only rarely should such expensive portability be considered.

>Maybe these notions of practicality are unfamiliar to one in the
>rarified world of academic mathematics.

Not as rarified it would seem, as on saturn...

>-- sidney markowitz <sidney at saturn.ucsc.edu>

-- 
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