(as.info.gz) Flonums

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 3.6.2.3 Flonums
 ...............
 
 A "flonum" represents a floating point number.  The translation is
 indirect: a decimal floating point number from the text is converted by
 `as' to a generic binary floating point number of more than sufficient
 precision.  This generic floating point number is converted to a
 particular computer's floating point format (or formats) by a portion
 of `as' specialized to that computer.
 
    A flonum is written by writing (in order)
    * The digit `0'.  (`0' is optional on the HPPA.)
 
    * A letter, to tell `as' the rest of the number is a flonum.  `e' is
      recommended.  Case is not important.
 
      On the H8/300, Renesas / SuperH SH, and AMD 29K architectures, the
      letter must be one of the letters `DFPRSX' (in upper or lower
      case).
 
      On the ARC, the letter must be one of the letters `DFRS' (in upper
      or lower case).
 
      On the Intel 960 architecture, the letter must be one of the
      letters `DFT' (in upper or lower case).
 
      On the HPPA architecture, the letter must be `E' (upper case only).
 
    * An optional sign: either `+' or `-'.
 
    * An optional "integer part": zero or more decimal digits.
 
    * An optional "fractional part": `.' followed by zero or more
      decimal digits.
 
    * An optional exponent, consisting of:
 
         * An `E' or `e'.
 
         * Optional sign: either `+' or `-'.
 
         * One or more decimal digits.
 
 
    At least one of the integer part or the fractional part must be
 present.  The floating point number has the usual base-10 value.
 
    `as' does all processing using integers.  Flonums are computed
 independently of any floating point hardware in the computer running
 `as'.
 

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