C needs BCD (ANSI People: Please Listen)

[Craig Lund]

One of the biggest problems with C is the lack of a BCD
(Binary Coded Decimal) arithmetic type.

When I needed to write software to handle
a real-time network of automated banking machines (ATM's),
C was the best choice for an implimentation language.

Unfortunately, C does not give a programmer access to the BCD machine
instructions offered by most modern computers/microprocessors.
The need to drop into assembly language to do BCD arithmetic
was the only annoying part of the entire ATM project.

Why should C provide floating point operations and not provide
BCD operations ? 

Craig Lund
Charles River Data Systems
(617) 626-1118
...!decvax!frog!craig