[Gretl-users] decimal separator bug

[Sven Schreiber]

Allin Cottrell schrieb:

> So far: if we support printing output using ',', but insist on '.' 
> on the input side, we already have an inconsistency of sorts -- 
> though I'm not sure it's very damaging.

Since it's user-configurable, I agree this is not a real issue.

> 
> A second element of inconsistency is that when the "locale decimal 
> separator" option is turned on, we currently accept (in fact, 
> insist on) use of the locale separator in dialog boxes that call 
> for simple numeric input (as opposed to the "define a new 
> variable" dialog).  I agree this is potentially confusing.

The "insist on" part is problematic. IMHO gretl must always accept
decimal periods ('.') everywhere irrespective of other settings, simply
because it's already mandatory in scripts (for good reasons). Otherwise
it's confusing, and such behavior might even deter people (students, for
example) from writing scripts, which would be a pity.

I don't care much whether or not it's also possible to use some other
separator (if the locale option is activated), provided it doesn't
require a syntax change for other things.

So I'm more or less indifferent between 1) and 2).

> 
> One more comment: I think the most serious issue with the decimal 
> separator is the one raised by Sven at the start of this thread, 
> namely that gretl could silently produce incorrect output.  
> However, this issue is fixed.  So I'm not sure it's right to say 
> the current setup is "error prone".  

What I meant was that trying to accommodate different locales made this
particular bug possible, and possibly would make similar bugs more
likely in the future.

Thanks for the "open ears",
sven