Java 8 RFR 6476168: (fmt) Inconsistency formatting subnormal doubles with hexadecimal conversion

[Joseph Darcy]

On 7/18/2013 3:20 PM, Brian Burkhalter wrote:
> Hi Joe,
>
> On Jul 17, 2013, at 10:31 PM, Joe Darcy wrote:
>
>> In the javadoc change, is there a reason for
>>
>>     [1, 12],
>>
>> rather than just
>>
>>     [1, 12],
>>
>> ?
> Not really.
>
>> The update should discuss how normal (that is non-subnormal) values are handled with reduced precision.
>>
>> The change should include tests of the newly specified behavior.
> The requested changes have been made, tested, and incorporated into the webrev
>
> http://cr.openjdk.java.net/~bpb/6476168/
>


Hello,

A spec quibble "decimal separator" isn't really the appropriate term for 
the hex formatting.

I think some more test cases and needed:

* Subnormal result rounding up to normal range under reduced precision. 
Something like nextDown(Double.MIN_NORMAL) (a subnormal value) rounded 
to between 1 and 11 digits of precision.

* Double.MAX_VALUE rounded to fewer than 12 digits. Offhand, I'm not 
sure what the implementation will do here; returning infinity or a hex 
string with an extra big exponent are both defensible.

Thanks,

-Joe