[E-Lang] Operators #6: Multiplicative operators

[Tyler Close]

At 11:57 AM 4/7/01 -0700, Mark S. Miller wrote:

>x _/ y, when x and y are either integers of float64s, evaluates to the
>integer resulting from rounding the quotient towards negative infinity.
>Ie, the largest integer <= the correct quotient.
>
>x / y, when x and y are either integers or float64s, evaluates to the
>floating point number that's the appropriate approximation to the real
>quotient by the IEEE round-to-even rule (the rounding rule governing all
>floating point arithmetic in Java and E.)  When x and y are float64s, "/"
>has the same meaning in E as in Java.

What are the arguments against giving integer/ the first definition and 
banishing the "_/" operator? Why do integers need to exhibit float-like 
behaviour? They are a different data type.

Tyler