+This manual page represents intent instead of actual practice.
+While it is intended that
+.I atof
+be implemented using
+.IR strtod (3),
+this has not yet happened.
+In the current system,
+.I atof
+translates a string in the following form to a double:
+an optional string of spaces, followed by an optional sign (``+'' or ``-''),
+followed by a string of digits which may contain a decimal point (``.''),
+followed by an optional exponent flag (``E'' or ``e''), followed by an
+optionally signed integer.