Julia Evansgetting closer to finalizing the table of contents for this zine on how integers and floating point numbers work
the way computers handle numbers is so weird and interesting, it's been fun to spend the last several months reflecting on the ways in which it's weird and trying to break it down
wakejagr@b0rk Following your learning and reflection has reinforced my standard assumption that everything is more complicated than it first appears.
ShadSterling@b0rk I’m looking forward to seeing how you break it down. I learned computers mostly at home with Dad’s help, so I had plenty of time to … I don’t know if there’s a name for it in general, but like how kids beginning to learn math will do things like try to see how high they can count, just as part of getting used to how numbers work, I did enough of that for numbers-on-computers that it seems natural to me. But I have an interest in teaching, so an interest in understanding the gap
Jaycie@b0rk Makes xi wonder what would happen if we taught kids binary math before base 10 math.
Xi know we would have to deal with little-digitian vs. thumb-digitian systems.
Mark Tomczak@b0rk I find it useful from time-to-time to remind myself that the machine is just a machine; it reliably translates input patterns to output patterns following a configurable set of rules, and that's all it does.
Any meaning whatsoever in those patterns is imbued by human observation.
Sebastian Gfeller@b0rk learning about two’s complement early in my studies was wild!
Jeff GriggSmalltalk has Rational Numbers.
Yep; arbitrary fractions.
Pretty Cool!!!
.
(But, honestly, business mostly wants decimal fractions with a "sane" number of digits to the right of the decimal point.)
johncarneyau@JeffGrigg @b0rk So does Ruby (possible they got it from Smalltalk).
Rev. GothAlice@b0rk Hey, if you can explain the floating point trickery of Quake's FISR algorithm, I'm fairly certain you'd win a Nobel.
But there may be alien technology involved in that mysterious constant. 😜
aaronsingline@b0rk it's fun to think about it and things similar. Like wondering why do we have 360 degrees in a circle?