3 ms·

I'm guessing that he's saying binary doesn't represent all numbers properly so if you need it to be absolutely accurate, you need to have a custom data type. M

I'm guessing that he's saying binary doesn't represent all numbers properly so if you need it to be absolutely accurate, you need to have a custom data type. Making it picoseconds doesn't help. Same problem with money - it's a very bad idea to use floats etc for money.

mark-t 18y ago
I covered that. There is no "absolutely accurate" in a finite number of bits, no matter what data type you use. In N bits, you can't store more than 2^N distinct numbers, and there happen to be a lot more than 2^N distinct numbers, even between 0 and 1. You have to choose your margin for error and be prepared to live with it (or use a variable width format).
- chmike 18y ago
  Fully agree. The time resolution I would be interested in are nanoseconds. Using 64bit signed integer values with nanoseconds as units I could cover a +/- 292 years which is far enough. I could then afford to keep the unix time_t epoch.
- richardw 18y ago
  You did cover it, you're right :)
pistoriusp 18y ago
Is a solution for money to convert everything to cents?
- richardw 18y ago
  That can work, for some tasks. Lookit this article for more info: http://www2.hursley.ibm.com/decimal/decifaq1.html#inexact http://www2.hursley.ibm.com/decimal/decifaq1.html#inexact Many languages have built-in formats for decimal data, so unless you have a really good reason (space/speed), just use those.