What programming languages provide nonnative multiple-precision arithmetic?
If you need high-precision arithmetic in a traditional programming language, such as Fortran, C, or C++, life can be much more difficult. The Brent MP package (ACM Trans. Math. Software 4(1), 57–70 (1978), the Bailey mpfun77 package, the GNU gmp package, the French LORIA mpfr package, and the Moshier extended double package, all provide libraries of routines, but you must use function calls for coding of all numerical and I/O operations that involve multiple-precision data. The Ada, C++, and Fortran 90/95 languages support user-definable data types and operator overloading. This makes it possible to define libraries that allow you to code numerical expressions in the conventional way, such as a = b * c + d / sqrt(e). Two such libraries for Fortran 90/95 are the Bailey mpfun90 package, and the Schonfelder vpa package. The Bailey arprec package offers similar support for C++. Regrettably, none of these packages provides the standard elementary functions, and that deficiency remains a gr
