... And more expensive. Not every project needs a $10 micro-controller, especially if I can spend ~$1 on an ATTiny and accomplish what I need to with a simple "kludge"
I understand the cost point here but that isnt the problem. Thats why I love arduino's compatibility features with several different micro-controllers. The point here is I spent the money on a mega why am I not allowed to use floats naturally without an ugly kludge or including some third party modifications?
It should be a documented step to enable, or like the very nice edit a checkbox. I would uncheck that box when working with tinys or unos.
it wouldn't make much sense to spend 10x the amount on the chip for additional software support that can be handled with a "kludge" like this
10x? Really? The mega cost me just under double the price of the uno. I'm not sure about the actual controller but if i was a large company and buying in bulk this wouldn't come close to 10x the cost. Again I don't see why I'm not allowed to make the decision to have floats.
Kludges are a problem. I expect a C++ programmer to be able to pickup an Arduino sketch and have a go. Suddenly they see some weird code which needs to be included either once(A function) or every time a float is used. This leads to backwards learning.
Sure. But take a look at the Arduino-specific functions, like digitalRead() and analogRead(). What types do those functions return? What about millis()? micros()? Can you find a single Arduino-specific function that returns a float?
Allow me to quote the arduino home page:
Arduino can sense the environment by receiving input from a variety of sensors and can affect its surroundings by controlling lights, motors, and other actuators.
How many sensors are you aware of that output floats? GPS,Accelerometers,Gyros, I even saw a geiger counter shield.
I get what you are saying, I guess the point here is. I want the option to enable them and disable them at will. Most of the time its disabled.
Something else from the main website:
Simple, clear programming environment - The Arduino programming environment is easy-to-use for beginners, yet flexible enough for advanced users to take advantage of as well.
Well I want to as what i would consider myself to be( an advanced user) want take advantage of floats in sprintf and thanks to a third party I can. 