At  09:39 PM 8/29/00, Richard Gambrell wrote:
>Jeff Woods wrote:
> > >Gavin Scott wrote:
> > >
> > > > They will even survive INSTALLs :-)
> >
> > > > The idea is that after doing the :GETRIN, you would go hardcode the RIN
> > > > number in your application somewhere, so you really don't want the
> numbers
> > > > to change or go away.
> >
> > Even though the intent of GRINs is to be permanent until freed, I suggest
> > you don't literally hardcode them into your applications.  Instead, look
> > them up from some table of "constants" at runtime.  That way if something
> > forces you to get another RIN number for some reason (BTDT) you can easily
> > change the reference to it everywhere.

>You mean, I don't believe it, everyone doesn't do that all the time
>for all constants!?:-)

Well, I can see hard coding a few rather fundamental constants such as c, e
and pi.  But most other values are slightly less constant.  I'm reminded of
the distinction between "more perfect" and "more nearly perfect".  Many
"constants" simply aren't.  :)  For a list of constants that I suspect can
reasonably be hard-coded see:

http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Constants/

IMO, the rest should all come from some kind of lookup table. :)

P.S.  "299,792,458 meters/second... It's not just a good idea; it's the
law."  Since the meter is presently defined relative only to "c" and the
second, that's exact.  (And yes I've heard a little bit about some recent
interesting demonstrations that *something* seems to be able to propogate
faster than that.  Twenty years ago, we talked about some hypothetical
particles called tachyons that had similar properties.  IIRC, the name
"tachyon" had something to do with particles that would flaunt what seems
like a fundamental limit being perceived somehow as "tacky".  :)

--
Jeff Woods
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