Re: PG 12 draft release notes

[ To: header pruned ]

>>>>> "Andres" == Andres Freund <andres(at)anarazel(dot)de> writes:

Andres> <para>
Andres> Avoid performing unnecessary rounding of <link
Andres> linkend="datatype-float"><type>REAL</type></link> and <type>DOUBLE
Andres> PRECISION</type> values (Andrew Gierth)
Andres> </para>

Andres> <para>
Andres> This dramatically speeds up processing of floating-point
Andres> values but causes additional trailing digits to
Andres> potentially be displayed. Users wishing to have output
Andres> that is rounded to match the previous behavior can set <link
Andres> linkend="guc-extra-float-digits"><literal>extra_float_digits=0</literal></link>,
Andres> which is no longer the default.
Andres> </para>
Andres> </listitem>

Andres> Isn't it exactly the *other* way round? *Previously* we'd
Andres> output additional trailing digits. The new algorithm instead
Andres> will instead have *exactly* the required number of digits?

Yeah, this wording is not right. But your description is also wrong.

Previously we output values rounded to 6+d or 15+d digits where
d=extra_float_digits, with d=0 being the default. Only clients that
wanted exact results would set that to 3 instead.

Now we output the minimum digits to get an exact result, which is
usually 8 or 17 digits (sometimes less depending on the value, or 9 for
the relatively rare float4 values that need it) for any
extra_float_digits value > 0. Clients that set d=3 will therefore
usually get one less digit than before, and the value they get will
usually be slightly different (i.e. not the same value that they would
have seen with d=2), but it should give them the same binary value after
going through strtod() or strtof().

--
Andrew (irc:RhodiumToad)