Talk:Prime decomposition

Could someone explain the C example a bit more (either in text around it or in comments)? It's using some things I think may be a bit unconventional. Also, does it actually return some sort of collection which contains the factors? The task says it should. --Mwn3d 09:17, 5 February 2008 (MST)

It prints out the factors seperated by * to stdout, In the context of unix, where everything is a text stream this counts as a collection. Why do you think it's unconventional, If you haven't used libgmp it may look strange.

Also the java example doesn't work for all integers > 1, maybe it could be fixed using the java bignum lib.

I added a BigDecimal example, though I don't think anyone will ever need to go beyond Double.MAX_VALUE. If they want to, they shouldn't be using Java. Also, sign your talk page posts please. See Help:Formatting for tips. --Mwn3d 11:08, 5 February 2008 (MST)

I note the J example simply calls a built-in - is that allowed? The task is kinda vague: "write a function that..." which could well include access to some language builtin. Or is the intent to show how one would solve the actual problem in that language? Sgeier 11:32, 6 February 2008 (MST)

The vagueness is fine. Do it as simply as you see fit. If your language has prime decomposition built-in then that just makes it easier. --Mwn3d 11:44, 6 February 2008 (MST)

Big Numbers

The OCaml and Python versions are incorrect, wrt big numbers?

Python integers automagically extend. For example:

   >>> 2**1234
   295811224608098629060044695716103590786339687135372992239556207050657350796238924261053837248378050186443647759070955993120820899330381760937027212482840944941362110665443775183495726811929203861182015218323892077355983393191208928867652655993602487903113708549402668624521100611794270340232766099317098048887493809023127398253860618772619035009883272941129544640111837184L
   >>>

--Paddy3118 06:36, 14 August 2008 (UTC)