I would like to throw my hat in as one of those who DON'T want
double-precision computation to be the default. It's worth noting that
Csound's internal precision equals or exceeds that of extraordinarily
expensive "pro audio" software and hardware (a signal path that
maintains at least 24 bits of integer precision from start to end is
considered quite good; speed is always a concern, so probably most
commercial software systems don't use doubles except for rare cases that
really require it, and maybe not even then). 

I understand that some folks want more precision for some purposes, and
they should have it, but not at the expense of everything running slower
on most of the hardware in existence. I think a compile-time type
selection would get us all what we want.

On Sat, 5 Jun 1999, paul winkler wrote:

}I understand that some folks want more precision for some purposes, and
}they should have it, but not at the expense of everything running slower
}on most of the hardware in existence.

Floats run slower on PowerPCs. If I'm not mistaken this applies to all
the varieties (Macintosh, IBM, and Motorola). They are in fact converted
to doubles, the computation(s) performed and then re-converted to floats
on the way out. That's why I'd go for your next line...

}I think a compile-time type selection would get us all what we want.

as a reasonable solution.


Philip

Philip Aker
Composer, Pianist,
Finale Plugins

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