Float v.s float

[wschin]

In ML.NET codebase, one can see two different names for 32-bit float type. Recent PR uses float while old places have Float. It'd be nice to have only one of the two styles.

[tannergooding]

The .NET Design guidelines indicate we should use the language keyword (float) everywhere except for API names, where we should use the non-language specific name (Single):

For example:

public static class BitConverter
{
    public static float Int32BitsToSingle(int bits);
    public static int SingleToInt32Bits(float value);
}

CC. @eerhardt

[Ivanidzo4ka]

@wschin we are trying to get rid of Float in our code, and if you look into estimators PRs we almost always delete that using Float = System.Single; line and use float instead

[TomFinley]

Just some history, in the long vanished past we used to have two builds, a "double" and a "single" build. (This was in the days before IDataView where pipelines could accommodate either.) But, when we removed the compiler switch, it was beneficial to keep the declaration around: by doing so you only had a couple thousand lines changed, instead of tens of thousands of lines changed.

We've been opportunistically removing Float though, though in a very very piecemeal fashion. Doing it all at once though -- well, it might be a good idea, but that would be one heck of a PR to manage conflicts on. 😛

[Zruty0]

Yes, just recently I saw someone mass-renaming Single to float, and ending up with Ldafloatbox somewhere in comments :)

[glebuk]

Seems to be fixed already

[Ivanidzo4ka]

Not exactly finished.

machinelearning/src/Microsoft.ML.StandardLearners/Optimizer/LineSearch.cs

Line 8 in a570da1

using Float = System.Single;

We have still plenty of places where we have using Float = System.Single; pattern.

In many places we clean it up via different unrelated PRs, but some code haven't been touch since we merge it from internal repo.

[sfilipi]

The action item on this PR is to remove

using Float = System.Single from all the files, and through the codebase, replace Float, with float.