Re: Sexagesimal Number Support in C++

I was extremely pleased to learn (from this proposal on the C++
Standard's Committee's official website):

http://www.open-std.org/JTC1/SC22/WG21/docs/papers/2008/n2601.html
that C++ is likely to gain (at long last!) support for sexagesimal
(that is, base 60) numbers.

Now, I know that many of the regular contributors to this
newsgroup, have lobbied long and hard for C++ to adopt this
vitally important feature; So it must be especially gratifying
for those individuals that all of their years of tireless
dedication to this one issue - finally appears to be bearing some
fruit. Moreover, I was particularly impressed by the technical
details of
how sexagesimal number support would work in C++. The feature as
proposed is nothing short of astonishing - both for its
compactness and for its sheer expressive power. I truly believe
that this proposal signals an important watershed in the evolution
of C++. Because - after letting the C++ language drift aimlessly
for years - the C++ Committee - with this brilliant proposal -
has announced to the world - a bold new course in which they will
be taking the C++ language from this point forwards. Indeed, I
suspect that the sexagesimal proposal is just the first in - what
could well turn out to be - a flurry of equally brilliant and
revolutionary changes that are coming to C++. Finally, assuming
that the C++ Committee acts quickly to approve
the sexagesimal proposal (as no doubt they will), then it will
naturally fall to us - that is, the community of C++ programmers -
to take the next step. We must lobby C++ compiler vendors to add
sexagesimal number support to their C++ compilers as soon as
possible. After all, each C++ program that is built with a
compiler that lacks sexagesimal support - is just another ticking
time bomb. Such a program is almost certain to fail sooner than
later, and fail spectacularly and at a moment's notice. And yet
this kind of failure could have easily - even trivially - been
prevented - if only the C++ compiler used to build the program -
had had sexagesimal number support.