[Gretl-users] decimal separator bug

[Allin Cottrell]

On Thu, 20 Sep 2007, Hélio Guilherme wrote:

> As for the scripts with locale settings I propose using a kind of
> directive at the beginning of the script, so, for example:
> #separators=",.;"
> 
> - - There is a fixed order for the separators. In the example, for
> Portuguese, I wrote: decimal separator, thousands separator and list
> separator.

"list separator": is that what you expect to use for function 
arguments?  For example, let a function expect two floating-point 
arguments.  In the "C" locale one might write

x = f(3.21,4.56)

When the decimal comma is used, would

x = f(3,21;4,56)

be the standard form?

I'll think about your other suggestions along this line.

> Testing as I was writing this message, I found that in 
> Tools/Distributions graphs the Normal label in the Gnuplot 
> appears as N(mean, variance) when should be N(mean, standard 
> deviation).

Hmm, I think that's debatable.  I believe the standard form is
X ~ N(\mu, \sigma^2).  However, for the purpose of data-entry, I 
think it's more intuitive to put the standard deviation in the 
second slot (as at present).  Other thoughts?

> The distributions labels are being parsed for localization, but 
> the numbers are not (still appear with decimal point).

True.  That's largely because I don't know how to write, e.g.

X ~ N(1.5, 25)

in a comma-using locale.  As in my question above, is it

X ~ N(1,5; 25)

or what?  Is there a definite standard?

Allin.