Converting binary floating-point numbers to shortest decimal strings: An experimental review [r-libre/3943]

Champagne Gareau, Jaël, & Lemire, Daniel (In Press). Converting binary floating-point numbers to shortest decimal strings: An experimental review. Software: Practice and Experience.

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PDF - floatserialize.pdf
Content : Final, unpublished version
License : Creative Commons Attribution.

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Item Type:	Journal Articles
Refereed:	Yes
Status:	In Press
Abstract:	When sharing or logging numerical data, we must convert binary floating-point numbers into their decimal string representations. For example, the number π might become 3.1415927. Engineers have perfected many algorithms for producing such accurate, short strings. We present an empirical comparison across diverse hardware architectures and datasets. Cutting-edge techniques like Schubfach and Dragonbox achieve up to a tenfold speedup over Steele and White's Dragon4, executing as few as 210 instructions per conversion compared to Dragon4's 1500-5000 instructions. Often per their specification, none of the implementations we surveyed consistently produced the shortest possible strings-some generate outputs up to 30% longer than optimal. We find that standard library implementations in languages such as C++ and Swift execute significantly more instructions than the fastest methods, with performance gaps varying across CPU architectures and compilers. We suggest some optimization targets for future research.
Depositor:	Lemire, Daniel
Owner / Manager:	Daniel Lemire
Deposited:	16 Jan 2026 15:42
Last Modified:	16 Jan 2026 15:42

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