How does language [X] handle indeterminate forms like 0^0?

Question

As x goes to 0, the limits of x^0 and 0^x go to 1 and 0, respectively. Some say that the best value for 0^0 depends on context, others say that the value of 0^0 should be 1. I'm interested in knowing what your language implementers say. There doesn't seem to be a consensus. For example, in ActiveState Perl 5.12.0:

C:\>perl -e "print 0**0"
1

While in Mathematica 6.0:

In[1]:= 0^0
        During evaluation of In[1]:= Power::indet:
        Indeterminate expression 0^0 encountered. >>
Out[1]= Indeterminate

I'm also interested in knowing your opinion on the matter: What should 0^0 be? And also whether you have ever introduced a bug into a program you were writing (or had a hard time debugging a program) because of the way your language handles indeterminate forms?

Answer 1

According to this Wikipedia article,

"Most programming language with a power function are implemented using the IEEE pow function and therefore evaluate 0^0 as 1. The later C and C++ standards describe this as the normative behavior. The Java standard mandates this behavior. The .NET Framework method System.Math.Pow also treats 0^0 as 1."

Answer 2

Python:

>>> for t in [int, float, complex, fractions.Fraction, decimal.Decimal]:
...     print(t, t(0)**0)
... 
<type 'int'> 1
<type 'float'> 1.0
<type 'complex'> (1+0j)
<class 'fractions.Fraction'> 1
Traceback (most recent call last):
  ...
decimal.InvalidOperation: 0 ** 0

Answer 3

Google says:

0^0 = 1

Answer 4

Delphi's got 2 float values: NaN and Infinity. That get returned in case of weirdness.

But it doesn't have a built in exponentiation function.

^ is for pointers, as in "hey you up there, I'm pointing at you!"