Re: integer-decode-float usage question

[sandra%orion@cs.utah.edu (Sandra J Loosemore)]

I guess the real problem I'm having is one of terminology:  the "exponent"
returned by INTEGER-DECODE-FLOAT doesn't have the usual interpretation 
as the power of 2 (or whatever the float radix is) that you multiply 
the fractional part of the number by.

This is at least the third time I've had to do a conversion between one
floating point format and another.  I've found myself wishing that, as
long as CL provides portable primitives for inquiring about the floating
point representations native to a particular implementation, it would
also provide a function like INTEGER-DECODE-FLOAT that lets you ask for
the same kinds of numbers but for some other float radix and precision.
Or at least some more specific documentation on how users can do this
themselves, given the existing primitives.

-Sandra
-------