C vs C ++（CLI）中调试器中的浮点表示

Question

A little background : I was working on some data conversion from C to C# by using a C++/CLI midlayer, and I noticed a peculiarity with the way the debugger shows floats and doubles , depending on which dll the code is executing in (see code and images below). At first I thought it had something to do with managed/unmanaged differences, but then I realized that if I completely left the C# layer out of it and only used unmanaged data types, the same behaviour was exhibited.

Test Case : To further explore the issue, I created an isolated test case to clearly identify the strange behaviour. I am assuming that anyone who may be testing this code already has a working Solution and dllimport / dllexport / macros set up. Mine is called DLL_EXPORT . If you need a minimal working header file, let me know. Here the main application is in C and calling a function from a C++/CLI dll. I am using Visual Studio 2015 and both assemblies are 32 bit .

I am a bit concerned, as I am not sure if this is something I need to worry about or it's just something the debugger is doing (I am leaning towards the latter). And to be quite honest, I am just outright curious as to what's happening here.

Question: Can anyone explain the observed behaviour or at least point me in the right direction?

C - Calling Function

void floatTest()
{
    float floatValC = 42.42f;
    double doubleValC = 42.42;
    //even if passing the address, behaviour is same as all others.
    float retFloat = 42.42f;
    double retDouble = 42.42;
    int sizeOfFloatC = sizeof(float);
    int sizeOfDoubleC = sizeof(double);

    floatTestCPP(floatValC, doubleValC, &retFloat, &retDouble);

    //do some dummy math to make compiler happy (i.e. no unsused variable warnings)
    sizeOfFloatC = sizeOfFloatC + sizeOfDoubleC;//break point here
}

C++/CLI Header

DLL_EXPORT void floatTestCPP(float floatVal, double doubleVal, 
      float *floatRet, double *doubleRet);

C++/CLI Source

//as you can see, there are no managed types in this function
void floatTestCPP(float floatVal, double doubleVal, float *floatRet, double *doubleRet)
{
    float floatLocal = floatVal;
    double doubleLocal = doubleVal;

    int sizeOfFloatCPP = sizeof(float);
    int sizeOfDoubleCPP = sizeof(double);

    *floatRet = 42.42f;
    *doubleRet = 42.42;

    //do some dummy math to make compiler happy (no warnings)
    floatLocal = (float)doubleLocal;//break point here
    sizeOfDoubleCPP = sizeOfFloatCPP;
}

Debugger in C - break point on last line of floatTest()

Debugger in C++/CLI - break point on the second to last line of floatTestCPP()

Answer 1

Consider Debugger in C++/CLI itself is not necessarily coded in C, C# or C++.

MS libraries support the "R" format : A string that can round-trip to an identical number. I suspect this or a g format was used.

Without MS source code, the following is only a good supposition:

The debug output is enough to distinguish the double from other nearby double . So code need not print "42.420000000000002" , but "42.42" is sufficient - whatever format is used.

42.42 as an IEEE double is about 42.4200000000000017053025658242404460906982... and the debugger certainly need not print the exact value.

Potential; similar C code

int main(void) {
  puts("12.34567890123456");
  double d = 42.42;
  printf("%.16g\n", nextafter(d,0));
  printf("%.16g\n", d);
  printf("%.17g\n", d);
  printf("%.16g\n", nextafter(d,2*d));
  d = 1 / 3.0f;
  printf("%.9g\n", nextafterf(d,0));
  printf("%.9g\n", d);
  printf("%.9g\n", nextafterf(d,2*d));
  d = 1 / 3.0f;
  printf("%.16g\n", nextafter(d,0));
  printf("%.16g\n", d);
  printf("%.16g\n", nextafter(d,2*d));
}

output

12.34567890123456
42.41999999999999
42.42
42.420000000000002   // this level of precision not needed.
42.42000000000001
0.333333313
0.333333343
0.333333373
0.3333333432674407
0.3333333432674408
0.3333333432674409

For your code to convert a double to text with sufficient textual precision and back to double to "round-trip" the number, see Printf width specifier to maintain precision of floating-point value .