From: Jean-Julien Fleck <jeanjulien.fleck@...>
Date: 2010-04-14T23:07:58+09:00
Subject: Re: Method to groom a string to floating point representation

Hello Alex,

> Yes, there has to be some additional logic to allow a trailing 'e' with
> the assumption that the user will next enter a valid character
> afterward.  That's what makes it a little complicated (and fun) to
> figure out.  The goal is, as the user is entering data, to not allow
> them to enter anything that is obviously not going to work as a floating
> point representation.

Sure, fun it is :o)
But that's exactly the kind of software that could drive me mad (as a
user). You assume that your user is making a typo but what if he is
not ? What if he truly believe what he is writing is a perfectly
correct float ? He will retry again, and again and again untill he
decide that the whole software is just a fraud :o) So IMHO, it is more
efficient to let your user know what kind of error he is (possibly
repetitively) doing and propose an alternative rather than erase what
he believe could be right.

Cheers,

-- 
JJ Fleck
PCSI1 Lycée Kléber