Hello,
some details regarding my question. I got this assignment which gives me the
following: SomeFunction :: Integer -> String. Which uses the show function
to convert the Integer to String.
However it asks me how my function can fail? Well I know my function fails
by definition when I do not insert an Integer into SomeFunction. Like
SomeFunction 2.3425221 and now I also know that when I insert a number that
is very close to zero (I think a denormalized value means that a value is
very close to zero:
http://www.haskell.org/pipermail/libraries/2004-November/002661.html) I get
probably get an error. But that is normal as a 0.000001 * e^(-10) is not
really an Integer, right?
Now I also know that when I use 'undefined' I would get an error. So what
other cases are there? (I asked my question about Floating because I guessed
it would be similiar to Integers)
At this moment I really can't figure out how my function can fail other than
the inputs described above.
Thanks for your help!
2009/11/27 Tsunkiet Man
Hello,
yes that is exactly what I mean, however I mean what kind of value do I need to input in 'a' that gets me an error back? That is is from the Floating class? (Other than undefined)
Could you please explain to me what IEEE 754 is and what exactly is a denormalized value? (After responding, I will google it also though).
Thank you for your help,
J.T.K.M.
2009/11/27 Roel van Dijk
ShowFloat -> Floating -> String I do not really understand this type.
Did you mean something like this:
showFloat :: (Show a, Floating a) => a -> String showFloat = show
In that case it depends on what type you fill in for 'a' and more specifically that type's Show instance. One value for which most (or all) show functions will give an error is ⊥ (undefined). If the type you pick is some kind of IEEE 754 type then you might have some trouble with denormalized values. But that is just a guess, you would have to test for that.
If that is not what you mean than I would appreciate some clarification.
Regards, Roel