&gt; For better or worse, it is a widespread practice appearing in numerous programming languages, including some widely used popular ones.<p>Well, yeah, I&#x27;ve been programming since the 1980s. I know that.<p>&gt; To conform with the practice, if you want, in your language, a way to use decimals to write exact fractional numbers, it&#x27;s better to have an explicit notation for that<p>Sure, given that your goal is to conform with that practice. I&#x27;m just saying its a bad practice that reflects a generally premature optimization that often harms correctness, so we <i>shouldn&#x27;t</i> conform to it in new languages.