C Floating point arithmetic

[Andrew Koenig]

>>	float a,b;
>>
>>	a = b + 1.0;	/* Gets done in double because 1.0 is a double.
>>			Gag me with a spoon. */
>
>Nah, gets done in single because the compiler realizes that 1.0 has
>the same representation in single and double, and therefore that
>the result of the addition will be the same.

... to which Dan Levy gives detailed evidence that his machine
does it in double.

Apparently some people don't recognize irony; let me try to make
the same point more clearly.

The point is that most floating-point constants are very simple: 1.0,
0.0, sometimes 2.0.  It doesn't take much to recognize such constants
and do the operations in single.  This is true even if your compiler isn't
up to it.