Re: documentation update for doc/src/sgml/func.sgml

On 9/12/14 3:13 PM, Andreas 'ads' Scherbaum wrote:
> Of course a general rule how to link to WP would be nice ...

I think Wikipedia links should be avoided altogether. We can assume
that readers are technically proficient to look up general technical
concepts on their own using a reference system of their choice.

In cases where a link is warranted, it is better to construct a proper
bibliographic citation to the primary source material, such as an IEEE
standard or an academic paper, in a way that will stand the test of time.

Another problem, which the bibliography system partially addresses, is
that if we patch things like proposed here, we'll end up with
inconsistent linking all over the documentation wherever the concept is
mentioned. For example, we already make reference to the relevant IEEE
standard where floating-point types are first introduced in section
8.1.3, and we probably don't need to repeat "floating-point numbers are
weird" every time they are mentioned later on.

Independent of that, it is actually not correct that "we use the IEEE's
rules", because "we" don't use any rules, that is up to the operating
system/platform. While most platforms indeed do use the IEEE
floating-point standard more less, some don't. Section 8.1.3 tries to
point that out.