4 ms·

How important is it to implement floating point arithmetic exactly as the standard specifies it? What if the same set of features is generally available, but no

• StefanKarpinski 12y ago
  That depends on what you want. Some people don't care at all, but others have legitimate needs for a lot of the features described in the spec. So if you can at all, it's best to follow the spec, imo. That way languages don't do a lot of annoyingly different, similar things. And, as this essay points out, the spec is wildly successful – it is arguably the most successful spec of all time – so second-guessing it is usually a mistake. Kahan at al. have forgotten more about numerical analysis than most of us will ever know.
  • gre 12y ago
    Factor has a library for setting up floating point environments that might interest you. I think we implemented all of the functionality you might need and it's nestable with dynamic scoping. I haven't needed to use it for anything though. Code: https://github.com/slavapestov/factor/blob/master/basis/math/floats/env/env.factor https://github.com/slavapestov/factor/blob/master/basis/math... Tests: https://github.com/slavapestov/factor/blob/master/basis/math/floats/env/env-tests.factor https://github.com/slavapestov/factor/blob/master/basis/math... Docs: http://docs.factorcode.org/content/article-math.floats.env.html http://docs.factorcode.org/content/article-math.floats.env.h...
• nraynaud 12y ago
  a lot of analysis is based on ieee 754, that would mean developers would have to re-do the analysis and change the finicky algorithms. I'm personally not able to do it. I nod at the research papers I read, but I would not be able to write them.