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codemonger
Or just use a spreadsheet maybe??
cshenoy
"There are also times when it’s a good idea to make a spreadsheet, but even this can be overkill."

I think the point was not on the specific class but thinking of business from a macro perspective. The author was better able to grasp things and use his programming background to his advantage.

hoop
Hi cshenoy, that was exactly my point. Thank you
jbester
A spreadsheet would have prevented the author from using floating point to represent money.
jbl
What is the issue with using floating point to represent money?
mquander 

  Time spent writing obvious reply:        $2.50
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  Dear jbl, your invoice total is $0.00000027.
jbl
Ah. Right. Rounding errors and other floating point issues. Guess I should have my coffee before reading HN. headdesk
hoop
For the purposes of my example assignment, I am required to provide all answers rounded to the nearest dollar (hence the call to round().) For a one-off (or ten-off) series of calculations the use of floating point is a non-issue.
mquander
No kidding. This was an awfully bad example. I use a REPL for this kind of math too, but it's because I'm too lazy to learn how to use Excel properly.
candre717
"If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail." Anon.
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