From: Robert Dober <robert.dober@...>
Date: 2006-07-23T05:03:46+09:00
Subject: Re: Infinity

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On 7/22/06, hadley wickham <h.wickham@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> irb(main):084:0> (-1.0/0.0)
> =3D> -Infinity
> irb(main):086:0> (1.0/0.0)
> =3D> Infinity
>
> but
>
> irb(main):087:0> Infinity
> NameError: uninitialized constant Infinity
>         from (irb):87
>         from :0
>
> is it possible to directly access/create a float representing positive
> or negative infinity?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Hadley
>
> #!/usr/bin/ruby

InfinityClass =3D Class.new
Infinity =3D InfinityClass.new
class << InfinityClass
    def new; Infinity end
end
class InfinityClass
    def method_missing(name, *args, &blk )
        Infinity
    end
    def to_s; "biiig"; end
end

puts Infinity
puts Infinity + 1
puts 3 * Infinity
unfortunately in order to make the last work you have to redefine Fixnum#*
etc etc which does not
seem pratical and I suppose that Infinity should be returned under certain
circumstances which means that
in an expression like
 a op b, b could easily be Infinity :(

Cheers
Robert
Infinity =3D " a heck of a long time"
# Sorry could not resist

I suppose you would like things like
Infinity * 3 =3D Infinity etc. etc.
--=20
Deux choses sont infinies : l'univers et la b=EAtise humaine ; en ce qui
concerne l'univers, je n'en ai pas acquis la certitude absolue.

- Albert Einstein

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