Re: integer exponentiation with negative exponent

[Dirk Laurie <dirk.laurie@...>]

2014-04-14 9:29 GMT+02:00 Tim Hill <drtimhill@gmail.com>:

> .. it really comes down to two choices:
>
> 1 / (x^(-n) … invert the sign and do floating point division
> -or-
> error
>
> As Roberto said, work1 did the former, work2 the latter.

>From a pedantic point of view, inverting the sign and doing
integer division is the only consistent option.

But from a practical point of view, particularly the non-breaking
of existing programs, floating-point division is the only useful
option.

So which is more typical of The Lua Way: consistent but useless,
or pragmatic and useful?

— Hobgoblin Emerson