>> Or - and this, I suspect, is what the "I don't really care..." meant
>> - implement an almost-but-not-quite-Java virtual machine, one that's
>> basically Java except that it uses VAX floating point instead of
>> IEEE floating point.
> I don't think you understand what I'm saying.  When you get a Java
> program, it's in bits and bytes, including all the fp numbers already
> in ieee format.

Only if you're stuck with bytecode rather than source.

But even then, you don't need an "ieee floating point package", just
converstion from IEEE to VAX.  (And back, if you want to generate
bytecode compatible with IEEE JVMs.)

> Or are you saying that you will port the Java compiler and JVM, and
> only be able to run those Java programs that you yourself will write
> and compile on your compiler?

s/write and// - there's no reason to assume that using VAX floats means
that you will _write_ all your own code.  Even aside from that, there's
plenty of java code - even bytecode - that doesn't even use floats.

> Why on earth in that case?  C++ should work just as well for you.

You consider C++ equivalent to Java if you're working with source?  I
sure don't.

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