>But numerical analysts really require being able to specify the semantics of calculations precisely in order to write libraries that mere mortals can use to ge

>But numerical analysts really require being able to specify the semantics of calculations precisely in order to write libraries that mere mortals can use to get the approximate right answer. >A quick perusal of any numerical analysis textbook should convince you that order of evaluation, order of truncation, overflow modes, and the like are very relevant for being able to write a library that has the right order of error. I see your point. I've done more than peruse numerical analysis textbooks, and as an old-school CPU logic designer, I've forgotten more about implementing floating point than most programmers know to start with. But your point is not in conflict with mine. Numerical analysis requires precise operation ordering. Most people not only don't care, they don't have sufficient understanding of the issues that you could even convince them to care.