Now, here's Lennart's code (which works)
\begin{code}
-{-# SPECIALISE fromRat ::
- Rational -> Double,
- Rational -> Float #-}
+{-# SPECIALISE fromRat :: Rational -> Double,
+ Rational -> Float #-}
fromRat :: (RealFloat a) => Rational -> a
-fromRat x
- | x == 0 = encodeFloat 0 0 -- Handle exceptional cases
- | x < 0 = - fromRat' (-x) -- first.
- | otherwise = fromRat' x
+
+-- Deal with special cases first, delegating the real work to fromRat'
+fromRat (n :% 0) | n > 0 = 1/0 -- +Infinity
+ | n == 0 = 0/0 -- NaN
+ | n < 0 = -1/0 -- -Infinity
+
+fromRat (n :% d) | n > 0 = fromRat' (n :% d)
+ | n == 0 = encodeFloat 0 0 -- Zero
+ | n < 0 = - fromRat' ((-n) :% d)
-- Conversion process:
-- Scale the rational number by the RealFloat base until
-- a first guess of the exponent.
fromRat' :: (RealFloat a) => Rational -> a
+-- Invariant: argument is strictly positive
fromRat' x = r
where b = floatRadix r
p = floatDigits r