To me any system that isn't capable to handle the british pre-1970s currency is not up to the job. Not because we should go back there, but because it is based on too many implicit assumptions
@heiglandreas using fractional numbers works, but you still need to reach a full number when you have to communicate to a customer or external system, so you need some bookkeeping for remainders
@heiglandreas FWIW, most accountants (also in Germany) were really clear that "nobody gives a damn".
The general direction proposed by multiple accountants I talked to (as part of my consultancy work in Germany) was "round it, and if the rounding errors become too big, we discuss remediation with the Finanzamt", and "if there is a problem, there's a ~3y timeline to resolution, plus a fine"
@ocramius@heiglandreas No, but for the sake of modeling currencies, I figure they can be interesting reference points for taking factional currencies to the extreme.
@beausimensen@ocramius@heiglandreas Agree with Marco and can extend this to the UK, US and Australia. Absolutely nobody cares. Like, at all. Don't invent problems.
@tappenden@ocramius@heiglandreas The thread started w/ discussion around "1/100 is enough" being a bad assumption. I was playing off the idea that you can't simply say "we will just use 1/1000; it will work for everything!" Somewhere out there will be an edge case where 1/1000 won't be enough.
Whether anyone thinks it's real or not, a non-trivial amount of code works w/ cryptocurrencies along side traditional currencies where 1/1000 is already not enough.
@tappenden@ocramius@heiglandreas I'm not a huge proponent of cryptocurrencies by any means. I'm not sure why I'm getting this reaction. Maybe I'm reading to much into it.
I think fractional currencies to the level cryptocurrencies go is ridiculous. I also appreciate the viewpoint that rounding errors maybe don't even matter in the "real world" (YOLO).
@beausimensen@tappenden@ocramius@heiglandreas a non-cryptocurrency equivalent issue is hyperinflation adjustments. Sudden decimal place movements for an entire currency (I think Venezuela did this about a decade ago?)
@heiglandreas What's your solution? Implementing a system which can handle all possible ways of denoting currencies seems like overkill. Yagni and all that. I usually just end up with decimal in the db and do the rounding logic in code.
@ihabunek I don't have a perfect solution. But if I'd have to transmit or store currency, then I'd transmit or store it the way people handle it. As 10 Euros 45 cents. Or - for the sake of it - 1 pound, 3 shilling, 6 pence.
How to handle the odd gas-prices? Well, those are decimals (like, mathematical), so why not store them as decimals.
And yes! That means one system for currencies like Euro or dollar, one foe dinar and one for Pound pre 1970. And perhaps others.
Add comment