[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #55942: Add a "value type" parameter to get_option() and get_metadata()

[WordPress Trac]

#55942: Add a "value type" parameter to get_option() and get_metadata()
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 Reporter:  azaozz                               |       Owner:  (none)
     Type:  enhancement                          |      Status:  new
 Priority:  normal                               |   Milestone:  6.3
Component:  Options, Meta APIs                   |     Version:
 Severity:  normal                               |  Resolution:
 Keywords:  has-patch has-unit-tests needs-      |     Focuses:
  testing                                        |  performance
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Comment (by rjasdfiii):

 Be aware that MySQL has a "DECIMAL(m,n)" format for things such as
 currency, but PHP simply throws them into "DOUBLE".  This can lead to
 roundoff errors and other rare monetary errors.

 MySQL implements DECIMAL using a general decimal package that handles up
 to ~65 ''decimal'' digits.

 About 40 years ago, IEEE-754 standardized ''binary'' FLOAT and DOUBLE.
 Nearly every computer hardware and software manufacturer since then has
 adopted these (in addition to other numeric types).  Deviating from that
 is likely only to confuse.

 "1.23" can be represented exactly in MySQL's DECIMAL(m,2).  With anyone's
 FLOAT, it can be represented only to 24 significant bits.  Or 53 for
 DOUBLE.  Those map to ''approximately'' 7 and 16 significant digits.

 "Serialization", if done "correctly", converts the binary numbers into
 enough decimal digits so that the subsequent unserialization will produce
 exactly the orignal binary value.

 Sorry, I don't have a clean solution of how to blend IEEE/PHP/MySQL/WP
 when it comes to representing exact monetary value.

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/55942#comment:54>
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