Docs::Site_SVD::Data_SecsPack - pack and unpack numbers in accordance with SEMI E5-94

Data-SecsPack documentation Contained in the Data-SecsPack distribution.

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NAME

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Docs::Site_SVD::Data_SecsPack - pack and unpack numbers in accordance with SEMI E5-94

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 Software Version Description

 for

 Docs::Site_SVD::Data_SecsPack - pack and unpack numbers in accordance with SEMI E5-94

 Revision: E

 Version: 0.06

 Date: 2004/05/21

 Prepared for: General Public 

 Prepared by:  SoftwareDiamonds.com E<lt>support@SoftwareDiamonds.comE<gt>

 Copyright: copyright © 2003 Software Diamonds

 Classification: NONE

1.0 SCOPE

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This paragraph identifies and provides an overview of the released files.

1.1 Identification

This release, identified in 3.2, is a collection of Perl modules that extend the capabilities of the Perl language.

1.2 System overview

The "Data::SecsPack" module extends the Perl language (the system).

The subroutines in the Data::SecsPack module packs and unpacks numbers in accordance with SEMI E5-94. The E5-94 establishes the standard for communication between the equipment used to fabricate semiconductors and the host computer that controls the fabrication. The equipment in a semiconductor factory (fab) or any other fab contains every conceivable known microprocessor and operating system known to man. And there are a lot of specialize real-time embedded processors and speciallize real-time embedded operating systems in addition to the those in the PC world.

The communcication between host and equipment used packed nested list data structures that include arrays of characters, integers and floats. The standard has been in place and widely used in China, Germany, Korea, Japan, France, Italy and the most remote places on this planent for decades. The SEMI E5 standard was first finalized in 1985 and has not changed much over the decades. The basic data structure and packed data formats have not changed for decades. This stands in direct contradiction to common conceptions of many in the Perl snail-time community that there is no standard for transferring such things as binary floats between machines little less sending nested list data as small compact binary.

The Data::Str2int module translates an scalar string to a scalar integer. Perl itself has a documented function, '0+$x', that converts a scalar to so that its internal storage is an integer (See p.351, 3rd Edition of Programming Perl). If it cannot perform the conversion, it leaves the integer 0. Surprising not all Perls, some Microsoft Perls in particular, may leave the internal storage as a scalar string.

The <str2int> function is basically the same except if it cannot perform the conversion to an integer, it returns an "undef" instead of a 0. Also, if the string is a decimal or floating point, it will return an undef. This makes it not only useful for forcing an integer conversion but also for testing a scalar to see if it is in fact an integer scalar.

1.3 Document overview.

This document releases Data::SecsPack version 0.06 providing a description of the inventory, installation instructions and other information necessary to utilize and track this release.

3.0 VERSION DESCRIPTION

Top

All file specifications in this SVD use the Unix operating system file specification.

3.1 Inventory of materials released.

This document releases the file 

 Data-SecsPack-0.06.tar.gz

found at the following repository(s):

  http://www.softwarediamonds/packages/
  http://www.perl.com/CPAN/authors/id/S/SO/SOFTDIA/

Restrictions regarding duplication and license provisions are as follows:

copyright © 2003 Software Diamonds

 603 882-0846 E<lt>support@SoftwareDiamonds.comE<gt>
License.

Software Diamonds permits the redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, provided that the following conditions are met:

1

Redistributions of source code, modified or unmodified must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.

2

Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.

3

Commercial installation of the binary or source must visually present to the installer the above copyright notice, this list of conditions intact, that the original source is available at http://softwarediamonds.com and provide means for the installer to actively accept the list of conditions; otherwise, a license fee must be paid to Softwareware Diamonds.

SOFTWARE DIAMONDS, http://www.SoftwareDiamonds.com, PROVIDES THIS SOFTWARE 'AS IS' AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL SOFTWARE DIAMONDS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL,EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE,DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

3.2 Inventory of software contents

The content of the released, compressed, archieve file, consists of the following files:

 file                                                         version date       comment
 ------------------------------------------------------------ ------- ---------- ------------------------
 lib/Docs/Site_SVD/Data_SecsPack.pm                           0.06    2004/05/21 revised 0.05
 MANIFEST                                                     0.06    2004/05/21 generated, replaces 0.05
 Makefile.PL                                                  0.06    2004/05/21 generated, replaces 0.05
 README                                                       0.06    2004/05/21 generated, replaces 0.05
 lib/Data/SecsPack.pm                                         0.08    2004/05/21 revised 0.06
 t/Data/SecsPack.d                                            0.04    2004/05/10 unchanged
 t/Data/SecsPack.pm                                           0.04    2004/05/10 unchanged
 t/Data/SecsPack.t                                            0.04    2004/05/10 unchanged
 t/Data/SecsPackStress.d                                      0.02    2004/05/01 unchanged
 t/Data/SecsPackStress.pm                                     0.02    2004/05/01 unchanged
 t/Data/SecsPackStress.t                                      0.02    2004/05/01 unchanged
 t/Data/File/Package.pm                                       1.17    2004/05/21 unchanged
 t/Data/Test/Tech.pm                                          1.26    2004/05/21 revised 1.23
 t/Data/Data/Secs2.pm                                         1.26    2004/05/21 revised 1.21
 t/Data/Data/Startup.pm                                       0.07    2004/05/21 revised 0.05
 t/Data/Data/Str2Num.pm                                       0.07    2004/05/21 new

3.3 Changes

Changes are as follows:

Data::SecsPack 0.01

Originated

Data::SecsPack 0.02

Adding support for packing and unpacking floats and flushing out to provide full support for packing and unpacking all SEMI E5-94 SECSII numeric formats.

Data::SecsPack 0.03

There were the same test software failures and Unit Under Test (UUT) failures for the following platforms:

 Subject: FAIL Data-SecsPack-0.02 ppc-darwin-thread-multi 7.2.0 
 From: nothingmuch@woobling.org 
 perl5: (revision 5.0 version 8 subversion 3) configuration:
 Platform: osname=darwin, osvers=7.2.0, archname=ppc-darwin-thread-multi

 From: "Thurn, Martin" <martin.thurn@ngc.com> 
 Subject: FAIL Data-SecsPack-0.02 sun4-solaris-thread-multi 2.8
 perl5: (revision 5.0 version 9 subversion 0)
 Platform: osname=solaris, osvers=2.8, archname=sun4-solaris-thread-multi

The test software failures were caused by invalid data from the UUT failure. The UUT failures caused non-numeric data for pass_fail_tolerance in SecsPackStress.t. Corrected pass_fail_tolerance by detecting non-numeric data and returning a failure. Failure of UUT unpack_float caused a undef passed to binary2hex. Corrected binary2hex by detecting and changing undef to to ''.

There were two groups of UUT failures.

In the first group the test results were as the test results was two member array of Math::BigInt number hash while the test was expecting just two simple Perl numbers. The numbers in the Data::BigInt hash were correct just in a different format. For example,

 t/Data/SecsPackStress....# Test 2 got: 'U1[1] 80
 L[4]
   A[0]
   A[5] ARRAY
   L[6]
     A[12] Math::BigInt
     A[4] HASH
     A[4] sign
     A[1] +
     A[5] value
     U1[1] 128
   L[6]
     A[12] Math::BigInt
     A[4] HASH
     A[4] sign
     A[1] +
     A[5] value
     U1[1] 0
 ' (t/Data/SecsPackStress.t at line 184)
 #   Expected: 'U1[1] 80
 U1[2] 128 0
 '

The second group of failures the UUT unpack_float subroutine is always returning a NaN. This subroutine heavily uses the native floating point for calcuations and it appears to be limiting out with Not a Number type error.

 # Test 27 got: '0' (t/Data/SecsPackStress.t at line 396 fail #2)
 #    Expected: '1' (got: NaN, expected: -10.5
 # actual tolerance: NaN, expected tolerance: 0.0001)

Check version of Math::BigInt in the ActiveState Perl 5.06 distribution to those on CPAN. ActiveState Math::BigInt was 0.01 while CPAN was 1.70. The difference between the two is night and day. Install Math::BigInt 1.70. Tests fails the same as above.

Corrected all Data::SecsPack subroutines to use new features and intefaces of Math::BigInt 1.70 including a load die if the Math::BitInt version is not 1.70 or greater

Replaced as many native float operations as possible with many new Math::BigInt subroutines in Version 1.70 as possible. Removed work arounds for subroutines such as rsft do not not work completely in 1.0 but do in 1.70. The unpack_float subroutine does not depend heavily on native float which comes in a different flavor for each and every site. There may be exceptions to this statement but if they are, they a few and far between.

Data::SecsPack 0.04

The anticipation was that there would be minor differences in floating point numbers due to different native floating point implementations. This concern did not materialize. In addition, Data::BigFloat replaced all native floating points. Since floating point differences are no longer anticipation, removed all tolerance criteria from the test scripts. To pass the tests, the results will now have to be exactly as expected.

Added the formats U8 and S8 to allowable formats for unpack_int. This was an oversight, a mistake.

Added the ascii_float option to the str2float subroutine. This is a new feature.

Switch to Data::Startup for handling options.

Data::SecsPack 0.05

The str2float subroutine did not recognize 0 as a number. Added 0 to tests for str2float.

Data::SecsPack 0.06

Changed the required version for Math::BigFloat from 1.40 to 1.39. Somehow the perquisites have some mysterious behaviors.

Failure:

 From: mhoyt@houston.rr.com 
 Subject: FAIL Tie-Layers-0.04 darwin-thread-multi-2level 7.0

PERL_DL_NONLAZY=1 /usr/bin/perl "-MExtUtils::Command::MM" "-e" "test_harness(0, 'blib/lib', 'blib/arch')" t/Tie/Layers.t t/Tie/Layers....Math::BigFloat version 1.4 required--this is only version 1.39

Documentation woes. The SEMI link does not work on. Changed to SEMI, http://www.semi.org.

Moved the str2int and str2float subroutines to the Data::Str2Num package. This allows the used of these subroutines without include all of the E5 SEMI packing and unpacking of the Data::SecsPack package. This isolate the problems of getting the required versions of Math::BigFloat and Math::BigInt support packages greatly reduced number of situations.

3.4 Adaptation data.

This installation requires that the installation site has the Perl programming language installed. There are no other additional requirements or tailoring needed of configurations files, adaptation data or other software needed for this installation particular to any installation site.

There are no related documents needed for the installation and test of this release.

3.6 Installation instructions.

Instructions for installation, installation tests and installation support are as follows:

Installation Instructions.

To installed the release file, use the CPAN module pr PPM module in the Perl release or the INSTALL.PL script at the following web site:

 http://packages.SoftwareDiamonds.com

Follow the instructions for the the chosen installation software.

If all else fails, the file may be manually installed. Enter one of the following repositories in a web browser:

  http://www.softwarediamonds/packages/
  http://www.perl.com/CPAN/authors/id/S/SO/SOFTDIA/

Right click on 'Data-SecsPack-0.06.tar.gz' and download to a temporary installation directory. Enter the following where $make is 'nmake' for microsoft windows; otherwise 'make'.

 gunzip Data-SecsPack-0.06.tar.gz
 tar -xf Data-SecsPack-0.06.tar
 perl Makefile.PL
 $make test
 $make install

On Microsoft operating system, nmake, tar, and gunzip must be in the exeuction path. If tar and gunzip are not install, download and install unxutils from

 http://packages.softwarediamonds.com
Prerequistes.
  


 'Math::BigInt' => '1.50',
 'Math::BigFloat' => '1.39',
 'Data::Startup' => '0.02',
 'Data::Str2Num' => '0.05'
Security, privacy, or safety precautions.

None.

Installation Tests.

Most Perl installation software will run the following test script(s) as part of the installation:

 t/Data/SecsPack.t
 t/Data/SecsPackStress.t
Installation support.

If there are installation problems or questions with the installation contact

 603 882-0846 E<lt>support@SoftwareDiamonds.comE<gt>

3.7 Possible problems and known errors

There is still much work needed to ensure the quality of this module as follows:

4.0 NOTES

Top

The following are useful acronyms:

.d

extension for a Perl demo script file

.pm

extension for a Perl Library Module

.t

extension for a Perl test script file

2.0 SEE ALSO

Top

SEMI, http://www.semi.org
Data::Startup
Data::SecsPack
Docs::US_DOD::SVD (Docs::US_DOD::SVD)
Data-SecsPack documentation Contained in the Data-SecsPack distribution. 
#!perl
#
# The copyright notice and plain old documentation (POD)
# are at the end of this file.
#
package  Docs::Site_SVD::Data_SecsPack;

use strict;
use warnings;
use warnings::register;

use vars qw($VERSION $DATE $FILE );
$VERSION = '0.06';
$DATE = '2004/05/21';
$FILE = __FILE__;

use vars qw(%INVENTORY);
%INVENTORY = (
    'lib/Docs/Site_SVD/Data_SecsPack.pm' => [qw(0.06 2004/05/21), 'revised 0.05'],
    'MANIFEST' => [qw(0.06 2004/05/21), 'generated, replaces 0.05'],
    'Makefile.PL' => [qw(0.06 2004/05/21), 'generated, replaces 0.05'],
    'README' => [qw(0.06 2004/05/21), 'generated, replaces 0.05'],
    'lib/Data/SecsPack.pm' => [qw(0.08 2004/05/21), 'revised 0.06'],
    't/Data/SecsPack.d' => [qw(0.04 2004/05/10), 'unchanged'],
    't/Data/SecsPack.pm' => [qw(0.04 2004/05/10), 'unchanged'],
    't/Data/SecsPack.t' => [qw(0.04 2004/05/10), 'unchanged'],
    't/Data/SecsPackStress.d' => [qw(0.02 2004/05/01), 'unchanged'],
    't/Data/SecsPackStress.pm' => [qw(0.02 2004/05/01), 'unchanged'],
    't/Data/SecsPackStress.t' => [qw(0.02 2004/05/01), 'unchanged'],
    't/Data/File/Package.pm' => [qw(1.17 2004/05/21), 'unchanged'],
    't/Data/Test/Tech.pm' => [qw(1.26 2004/05/21), 'revised 1.23'],
    't/Data/Data/Secs2.pm' => [qw(1.26 2004/05/21), 'revised 1.21'],
    't/Data/Data/Startup.pm' => [qw(0.07 2004/05/21), 'revised 0.05'],
    't/Data/Data/Str2Num.pm' => [qw(0.07 2004/05/21), 'new'],

);

########
# The ExtUtils::SVDmaker module uses the data after the __DATA__ 
# token to automatically generate this file.
#
# Don't edit anything before __DATA_. Edit instead
# the data after the __DATA__ token.
#
# ANY CHANGES MADE BEFORE the  __DATA__ token WILL BE LOST
#
# the next time ExtUtils::SVDmaker generates this file.
#
#




1;

__DATA__

DISTNAME: Data-SecsPack^
REPOSITORY_DIR: packages^

VERSION : 0.06^
FREEZE: 1^
PREVIOUS_DISTNAME:  ^
PREVIOUS_RELEASE: 0.05^
REVISION: E^

AUTHOR  : SoftwareDiamonds.com E<lt>support@SoftwareDiamonds.comE<gt>^
ABSTRACT: pack and unpack numbers in accordance with SEMI E5-94^
TITLE   : Docs::Site_SVD::Data_SecsPack - pack and unpack numbers in accordance with SEMI E5-94^
END_USER: General Public^
COPYRIGHT: copyright © 2003 Software Diamonds^
CLASSIFICATION: NONE^
TEMPLATE:  ^
CSS: help.css^
SVD_FSPEC: Unix^

REPOSITORY: 
  http://www.softwarediamonds/packages/
  http://www.perl.com/CPAN/authors/id/S/SO/SOFTDIA/
^

COMPRESS: gzip^
COMPRESS_SUFFIX: gz^

RESTRUCTURE:  ^
CHANGE2CURRENT:  ^

AUTO_REVISE: 
lib/Data/SecsPack.pm
t/Data/SecsPack.*
t/Data/SecsPackStress.*
lib/File/Package.pm => t/Data/File/Package.pm
lib/Test/Tech.pm => t/Data/Test/Tech.pm
lib/Data/Secs2.pm => t/Data/Data/Secs2.pm
lib/Data/Startup.pm => t/Data/Data/Startup.pm
lib/Data/Str2Num.pm => t/Data/Data/Str2Num.pm
^

PREREQ_PM:  
'Math::BigInt' => '1.50',
'Math::BigFloat' => '1.39',
'Data::Startup' => '0.02',
'Data::Str2Num' => '0.05'
^
README_PODS: lib/Data/SecsPack.pm^

TESTS:
t/Data/SecsPack.t
t/Data/SecsPackStress.t
^

EXE_FILES:  ^

CHANGES: 
Changes are as follows:

\=over 4

\=item Data::SecsPack 0.01

Originated

\=item Data::SecsPack 0.02

Adding support for packing and unpacking
floats and flushing out to provide full
support for packing and unpacking all
SEMI E5-94 SECSII numeric formats.

\=item Data::SecsPack 0.03

There were the same test software failures and Unit Under Test (UUT) failures
for the following platforms:

 Subject: FAIL Data-SecsPack-0.02 ppc-darwin-thread-multi 7.2.0 
 From: nothingmuch@woobling.org 
 perl5: (revision 5.0 version 8 subversion 3) configuration:
 Platform: osname=darwin, osvers=7.2.0, archname=ppc-darwin-thread-multi

 From: "Thurn, Martin" <martin.thurn@ngc.com> 
 Subject: FAIL Data-SecsPack-0.02 sun4-solaris-thread-multi 2.8
 perl5: (revision 5.0 version 9 subversion 0)
 Platform: osname=solaris, osvers=2.8, archname=sun4-solaris-thread-multi

The test software failures were caused by invalid data from the UUT failure.
The UUT failures caused  non-numeric data for C<pass_fail_tolerance> in
C<SecsPackStress.t>. Corrected C<pass_fail_tolerance> by detecting non-numeric
data and returning a failure. 
Failure of UUT C<unpack_float> caused a C<undef> passed to C<binary2hex>.
Corrected C<binary2hex> by detecting and changing C<undef> to to C<''>.

There were two groups of UUT failures. 

In the first group the test results were as the test results was
two member array of C<Math::BigInt> number hash while the test
was expecting just two simple Perl numbers. 
The numbers in the C<Data::BigInt> hash were correct just in a
different format. For example,

 t/Data/SecsPackStress....# Test 2 got: 'U1[1] 80
 L[4]
   A[0]
   A[5] ARRAY
   L[6]
     A[12] Math::BigInt
     A[4] HASH
     A[4] sign
     A[1] +
     A[5] value
     U1[1] 128
   L[6]
     A[12] Math::BigInt
     A[4] HASH
     A[4] sign
     A[1] +
     A[5] value
     U1[1] 0
 ' (t/Data/SecsPackStress.t at line 184)
 #   Expected: 'U1[1] 80
 U1[2] 128 0
 '

The second group of failures the UUT C<unpack_float> subroutine
is always returning a NaN. This subroutine heavily uses the
native floating point for calcuations and it appears to
be limiting out with C<Not a Number> type error.

 # Test 27 got: '0' (t/Data/SecsPackStress.t at line 396 fail #2)
 #    Expected: '1' (got: NaN, expected: -10.5
 # actual tolerance: NaN, expected tolerance: 0.0001)

Check version of C<Math::BigInt> in the ActiveState Perl 5.06
distribution to those on CPAN. ActiveState C<Math::BigInt>
was 0.01 while CPAN was 1.70. The difference between the two
is night and day. Install C<Math::BigInt> 1.70.
Tests fails the same as above. 

Corrected all C<Data::SecsPack> subroutines to use new
features and intefaces of C<Math::BigInt> 1.70 including
a load C<die> if the C<Math::BitInt> version is not 1.70
or greater

Replaced as many native float operations as possible with
many new C<Math::BigInt> subroutines in Version 1.70 as possible.
Removed work arounds for subroutines such as C<rsft> do not
not work completely in 1.0 but do in 1.70. 
The C<unpack_float> subroutine
does not depend heavily on native float which comes in a different
flavor for each and every site. There may be exceptions to
this statement but if they are, they a few and far between.

\=item Data::SecsPack 0.04

The anticipation was that there would be minor differences in 
floating point numbers due to different native floating point
implementations. This concern did not materialize. In addition, 
C<Data::BigFloat> replaced all native floating points.
Since floating point differences are no longer anticipation,
removed all tolerance criteria from the test scripts.
To pass the tests, the results will now have to be exactly
as expected.

Added the formats U8 and S8 to allowable formats for
C<unpack_int>. This was an oversight, a mistake.

Added the C<ascii_float> option to the C<str2float>
subroutine.  This is a new feature.

Switch to C<Data::Startup> for handling options.

\=item Data::SecsPack 0.05

The C<str2float> subroutine did not recognize 0 as a number.
Added 0 to tests for C<str2float>.

\=item Data::SecsPack 0.06

Changed the required version for C<Math::BigFloat> from 1.40 to 1.39.
Somehow the perquisites have some mysterious behaviors.

Failure:

 From: mhoyt@houston.rr.com 
 Subject: FAIL Tie-Layers-0.04 darwin-thread-multi-2level 7.0 

PERL_DL_NONLAZY=1 /usr/bin/perl "-MExtUtils::Command::MM" "-e" 
"test_harness(0, 'blib/lib', 'blib/arch')" t/Tie/Layers.t
t/Tie/Layers....Math::BigFloat version 1.4 required--this is only version 1.39 

Documentation woes.
The SEMI link does not work on. Changed to SEMI, http://www.semi.org.

Moved the C<str2int> and C<str2float> subroutines to the C<Data::Str2Num>
package. This allows the used of these subroutines without include all
of the E5 SEMI packing and unpacking of the C<Data::SecsPack> package.
This isolate the problems of getting the required versions of 
C<Math::BigFloat> and C<Math::BigInt> support packages greatly reduced
number of situations.

\=back
^

DOCUMENT_OVERVIEW:
This document releases ${NAME} version ${VERSION}
providing a description of the inventory, installation
instructions and other information necessary to
utilize and track this release.
^

CAPABILITIES:
The "L<Data::SecsPack|Data::SecsPack>" module extends the Perl language (the system).

The subroutines in the C<Data::SecsPack> module packs and unpacks
numbers in accordance with SEMI E5-94. The E5-94 establishes the
standard for communication between the equipment used to fabricate
semiconductors and the host computer that controls the fabrication.
The equipment in a semiconductor factory (fab) or any other fab
contains every conceivable known microprocessor and operating system
known to man. And there are a lot of specialize real-time embedded 
processors and speciallize real-time embedded operating systems
in addition to the those in the PC world.

The communcication between host and equipment used packed
nested list data structures that include arrays of characters,
integers and floats. The standard has been in place and widely
used in China, Germany, Korea, Japan, France, Italy and
the most remote places on this planent for decades.
The SEMI E5 standard was first finalized in 1985 and has
not changed much over the decades.
The basic data structure and packed data formats have not
changed for decades. 
This stands in direct contradiction to common conceptions
of many in the Perl snail-time community that
there is no standard for transferring such things as
binary floats between machines little less sending
nested list data as small compact binary.

The C<Data::Str2int> module translates an scalar string to a scalar integer.
Perl itself has a documented function, '0+$x', that converts a scalar to
so that its internal storage is an integer
(See p.351, 3rd Edition of Programming Perl).
If it cannot perform the conversion, it leaves the integer 0.
Surprising not all Perls, some Microsoft Perls in particular, may leave
the internal storage as a scalar string.

The <str2int> function is basically the same except if it cannot perform
the conversion to an integer, it returns an "undef" instead of a 0.
Also, if the string is a decimal or floating point, it will return an undef.
This makes it not only useful for forcing an integer conversion but
also for testing a scalar to see if it is in fact an integer scalar.

^

PROBLEMS:
There is still much work needed to ensure the quality 
of this module as follows:

\=over 4

\=item *

Increase the accuracy of packing floats with
large exponents and unpacking floats.

\=item *

State the functional requirements for each method 
including not only the GO paths but also what to
expect for the NOGO paths

\=item *

Most of the tests are GO path tests. Should add
some more NOGO tests and review the test to
see if they test each and every execution path.

\=item *

Add requirements and trace between requirements
and the test that verifies the requirement.

\=back

^

LICENSE:
Software Diamonds permits the redistribution
and use in source and binary forms, with or
without modification, provided that the 
following conditions are met: 

\=over 4

\=item 1

Redistributions of source code, modified or unmodified
must retain the above copyright notice, this list of
conditions and the following disclaimer. 

\=item 2

Redistributions in binary form must 
reproduce the above copyright notice,
this list of conditions and the following 
disclaimer in the documentation and/or
other materials provided with the
distribution.

\=item 3

Commercial installation of the binary or source
must visually present to the installer 
the above copyright notice,
this list of conditions intact,
that the original source is available
at http://softwarediamonds.com
and provide means
for the installer to actively accept
the list of conditions; 
otherwise, a license fee must be paid to
Softwareware Diamonds.

\=back

SOFTWARE DIAMONDS, http://www.SoftwareDiamonds.com,
PROVIDES THIS SOFTWARE 
'AS IS' AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES,
INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED
WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR
A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT
SHALL SOFTWARE DIAMONDS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT,
INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL,EXEMPLARY, OR 
CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED
TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES;
LOSS OF USE,DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS
INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY
OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY,
OR TORT (INCLUDING USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF
ADVISED OF NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN
ANY WAY OUT OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
^


INSTALLATION:
To installed the release file, use the CPAN module
pr PPM module in the Perl release
or the INSTALL.PL script at the following web site:

 http://packages.SoftwareDiamonds.com

Follow the instructions for the the chosen installation software.

If all else fails, the file may be manually installed.
Enter one of the following repositories in a web browser:

${REPOSITORY}

Right click on '${DIST_FILE}' and download to a temporary
installation directory.
Enter the following where $make is 'nmake' for microsoft
windows; otherwise 'make'.

 gunzip ${BASE_DIST_FILE}.tar.${COMPRESS_SUFFIX}
 tar -xf ${BASE_DIST_FILE}.tar
 perl Makefile.PL
 $make test
 $make install

On Microsoft operating system, nmake, tar, and gunzip 
must be in the exeuction path. If tar and gunzip are
not install, download and install unxutils from

 http://packages.softwarediamonds.com
^

SUPPORT: 603 882-0846 E<lt>support@SoftwareDiamonds.comE<gt>
^

SUPPORT: 603 882-0846 E<lt>support@SoftwareDiamonds.comE<gt>^

NOTES:
The following are useful acronyms:

\=over 4

\=item .d

extension for a Perl demo script file

\=item .pm

extension for a Perl Library Module

\=item .t

extension for a Perl test script file

\=back
^

SEE_ALSO: 
\=over 4

\=item SEMI, http://www.semi.org

\=item L<Data::Startup|Data::Startup> 

\=item L<Data::SecsPack|Data::SecsPack> 

\=item L<Docs::US_DOD::SVD|Docs::US_DOD::SVD> 

\=back
^


HTML:

^
~-~