1528 lines
		
	
	
		
			52 KiB
		
	
	
	
		
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			1528 lines
		
	
	
		
			52 KiB
		
	
	
	
		
			HTML
		
	
	
	
	
	
| 
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| <HTML>
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| 
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| <HEAD>
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| <TITLE>Berkeley SoftFloat Library Interface</TITLE>
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| </HEAD>
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| 
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| <BODY>
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| 
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| <H1>Berkeley SoftFloat Release 3e: Library Interface</H1>
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| 
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| <P>
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| John R. Hauser<BR>
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| 2018 January 20<BR>
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| </P>
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| 
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| 
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| <H2>Contents</H2>
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| 
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| <BLOCKQUOTE>
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| <TABLE BORDER=0 CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0>
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| <COL WIDTH=25>
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| <COL WIDTH=*>
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| <TR><TD COLSPAN=2>1. Introduction</TD></TR>
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| <TR><TD COLSPAN=2>2. Limitations</TD></TR>
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| <TR><TD COLSPAN=2>3. Acknowledgments and License</TD></TR>
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| <TR><TD COLSPAN=2>4. Types and Functions</TD></TR>
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| <TR><TD></TD><TD>4.1. Boolean and Integer Types</TD></TR>
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| <TR><TD></TD><TD>4.2. Floating-Point Types</TD></TR>
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| <TR><TD></TD><TD>4.3. Supported Floating-Point Functions</TD></TR>
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| <TR>
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|   <TD></TD>
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|   <TD>4.4. Non-canonical Representations in <CODE>extFloat80_t</CODE></TD>
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| </TR>
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| <TR><TD></TD><TD>4.5. Conventions for Passing Arguments and Results</TD></TR>
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| <TR><TD COLSPAN=2>5. Reserved Names</TD></TR>
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| <TR><TD COLSPAN=2>6. Mode Variables</TD></TR>
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| <TR><TD></TD><TD>6.1. Rounding Mode</TD></TR>
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| <TR><TD></TD><TD>6.2. Underflow Detection</TD></TR>
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| <TR>
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|   <TD></TD>
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|   <TD>6.3. Rounding Precision for the <NOBR>80-Bit</NOBR> Extended Format</TD>
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| </TR>
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| <TR><TD COLSPAN=2>7. Exceptions and Exception Flags</TD></TR>
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| <TR><TD COLSPAN=2>8. Function Details</TD></TR>
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| <TR><TD></TD><TD>8.1. Conversions from Integer to Floating-Point</TD></TR>
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| <TR><TD></TD><TD>8.2. Conversions from Floating-Point to Integer</TD></TR>
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| <TR><TD></TD><TD>8.3. Conversions Among Floating-Point Types</TD></TR>
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| <TR><TD></TD><TD>8.4. Basic Arithmetic Functions</TD></TR>
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| <TR><TD></TD><TD>8.5. Fused Multiply-Add Functions</TD></TR>
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| <TR><TD></TD><TD>8.6. Remainder Functions</TD></TR>
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| <TR><TD></TD><TD>8.7. Round-to-Integer Functions</TD></TR>
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| <TR><TD></TD><TD>8.8. Comparison Functions</TD></TR>
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| <TR><TD></TD><TD>8.9. Signaling NaN Test Functions</TD></TR>
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| <TR><TD></TD><TD>8.10. Raise-Exception Function</TD></TR>
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| <TR><TD COLSPAN=2>9. Changes from SoftFloat <NOBR>Release 2</NOBR></TD></TR>
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| <TR><TD></TD><TD>9.1. Name Changes</TD></TR>
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| <TR><TD></TD><TD>9.2. Changes to Function Arguments</TD></TR>
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| <TR><TD></TD><TD>9.3. Added Capabilities</TD></TR>
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| <TR><TD></TD><TD>9.4. Better Compatibility with the C Language</TD></TR>
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| <TR><TD></TD><TD>9.5. New Organization as a Library</TD></TR>
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| <TR><TD></TD><TD>9.6. Optimization Gains (and Losses)</TD></TR>
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| <TR><TD COLSPAN=2>10. Future Directions</TD></TR>
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| <TR><TD COLSPAN=2>11. Contact Information</TD></TR>
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| </TABLE>
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| </BLOCKQUOTE>
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| 
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| 
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| <H2>1. Introduction</H2>
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| 
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| <P>
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| Berkeley SoftFloat is a software implementation of binary floating-point that
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| conforms to the IEEE Standard for Floating-Point Arithmetic.
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| The current release supports five binary formats:  <NOBR>16-bit</NOBR>
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| half-precision, <NOBR>32-bit</NOBR> single-precision, <NOBR>64-bit</NOBR>
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| double-precision, <NOBR>80-bit</NOBR> double-extended-precision, and
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| <NOBR>128-bit</NOBR> quadruple-precision.
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| The following functions are supported for each format:
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| <UL>
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| <LI>
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| addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and square root;
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| <LI>
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| fused multiply-add as defined by the IEEE Standard, except for
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| <NOBR>80-bit</NOBR> double-extended-precision;
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| <LI>
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| remainder as defined by the IEEE Standard;
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| <LI>
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| round to integral value;
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| <LI>
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| comparisons;
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| <LI>
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| conversions to/from other supported formats; and
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| <LI>
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| conversions to/from <NOBR>32-bit</NOBR> and <NOBR>64-bit</NOBR> integers,
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| signed and unsigned.
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| </UL>
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| All operations required by the original 1985 version of the IEEE Floating-Point
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| Standard are implemented, except for conversions to and from decimal.
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| </P>
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| 
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| <P>
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| This document gives information about the types defined and the routines
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| implemented by SoftFloat.
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| It does not attempt to define or explain the IEEE Floating-Point Standard.
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| Information about the standard is available elsewhere.
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| </P>
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| 
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| <P>
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| The current version of SoftFloat is <NOBR>Release 3e</NOBR>.
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| This release modifies the behavior of the rarely used <I>odd</I> rounding mode
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| (<I>round to odd</I>, also known as <I>jamming</I>), and also adds some new
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| specialization and optimization examples for those compiling SoftFloat.
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| </P>
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| 
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| <P>
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| The previous <NOBR>Release 3d</NOBR> fixed bugs that were found in the square
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| root functions for the <NOBR>64-bit</NOBR>, <NOBR>80-bit</NOBR>, and
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| <NOBR>128-bit</NOBR> floating-point formats.
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| (Thanks to Alexei Sibidanov at the University of Victoria for reporting an
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| incorrect result.)
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| The bugs affected all prior <NOBR>Release-3</NOBR> versions of SoftFloat
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| <NOBR>through 3c</NOBR>.
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| The flaw in the <NOBR>64-bit</NOBR> floating-point square root function was of
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| very minor impact, causing a <NOBR>1-ulp</NOBR> error (<NOBR>1 unit</NOBR> in
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| the last place) a few times out of a billion.
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| The bugs in the <NOBR>80-bit</NOBR> and <NOBR>128-bit</NOBR> square root
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| functions were more serious.
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| Although incorrect results again occurred only a few times out of a billion,
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| when they did occur a large portion of the less-significant bits could be
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| wrong.
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| </P>
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| 
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| <P>
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| Among earlier releases, 3b was notable for adding support for the
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| <NOBR>16-bit</NOBR> half-precision format.
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| For more about the evolution of SoftFloat releases, see
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| <A HREF="SoftFloat-history.html"><NOBR><CODE>SoftFloat-history.html</CODE></NOBR></A>.
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| </P>
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| 
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| <P>
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| The functional interface of SoftFloat <NOBR>Release 3</NOBR> and later differs
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| in many details from the releases that came before.
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| For specifics of these differences, see <NOBR>section 9</NOBR> below,
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| <I>Changes from SoftFloat <NOBR>Release 2</NOBR></I>.
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| </P>
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| 
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| 
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| <H2>2. Limitations</H2>
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| 
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| <P>
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| SoftFloat assumes the computer has an addressable byte size of 8 or
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| <NOBR>16 bits</NOBR>.
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| (Nearly all computers in use today have <NOBR>8-bit</NOBR> bytes.)
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| </P>
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| 
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| <P>
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| SoftFloat is written in C and is designed to work with other C code.
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| The C compiler used must conform at a minimum to the 1989 ANSI standard for the
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| C language (same as the 1990 ISO standard) and must in addition support basic
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| arithmetic on <NOBR>64-bit</NOBR> integers.
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| Earlier releases of SoftFloat included implementations of <NOBR>32-bit</NOBR>
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| single-precision and <NOBR>64-bit</NOBR> double-precision floating-point that
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| did not require <NOBR>64-bit</NOBR> integers, but this option is not supported
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| starting with <NOBR>Release 3</NOBR>.
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| Since 1999, ISO standards for C have mandated compiler support for
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| <NOBR>64-bit</NOBR> integers.
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| A compiler conforming to the 1999 C Standard or later is recommended but not
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| strictly required.
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| </P>
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| 
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| <P>
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| Most operations not required by the original 1985 version of the IEEE
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| Floating-Point Standard but added in the 2008 version are not yet supported in
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| SoftFloat <NOBR>Release 3e</NOBR>.
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| </P>
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| 
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| 
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| <H2>3. Acknowledgments and License</H2>
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| 
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| <P>
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| The SoftFloat package was written by me, <NOBR>John R.</NOBR> Hauser.
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| <NOBR>Release 3</NOBR> of SoftFloat was a completely new implementation
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| supplanting earlier releases.
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| The project to create <NOBR>Release 3</NOBR> (now <NOBR>through 3e</NOBR>) was
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| done in the employ of the University of California, Berkeley, within the
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| Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, first for the
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| Parallel Computing Laboratory (Par Lab) and then for the ASPIRE Lab.
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| The work was officially overseen by Prof. Krste Asanovic, with funding provided
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| by these sources:
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| <BLOCKQUOTE>
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| <TABLE>
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| <COL>
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| <COL WIDTH=10>
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| <COL>
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| <TR>
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| <TD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR>Par Lab:</NOBR></TD>
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| <TD></TD>
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| <TD>
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| Microsoft (Award #024263), Intel (Award #024894), and U.C. Discovery
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| (Award #DIG07-10227), with additional support from Par Lab affiliates Nokia,
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| NVIDIA, Oracle, and Samsung.
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| </TD>
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| </TR>
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| <TR>
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| <TD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR>ASPIRE Lab:</NOBR></TD>
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| <TD></TD>
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| <TD>
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| DARPA PERFECT program (Award #HR0011-12-2-0016), with additional support from
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| ASPIRE industrial sponsor Intel and ASPIRE affiliates Google, Nokia, NVIDIA,
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| Oracle, and Samsung.
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| </TD>
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| </TR>
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| </TABLE>
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| </BLOCKQUOTE>
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| </P>
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| 
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| <P>
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| The following applies to the whole of SoftFloat <NOBR>Release 3e</NOBR> as well
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| as to each source file individually.
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| </P>
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| 
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| <P>
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| Copyright 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 The Regents of the
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| University of California.
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| All rights reserved.
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| </P>
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| 
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| <P>
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| Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
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| modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:
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| <OL>
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| 
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| <LI>
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| <P>
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| Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this
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| list of conditions, and the following disclaimer.
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| </P>
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| 
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| <LI>
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| <P>
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| Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this
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| list of conditions, and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or
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| other materials provided with the distribution.
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| </P>
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| 
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| <LI>
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| <P>
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| Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors may be
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| used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific
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| prior written permission.
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| </P>
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| 
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| </OL>
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| </P>
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| 
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| <P>
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| THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS “AS IS”,
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| AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
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| IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, ARE
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| DISCLAIMED.
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| IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT,
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| INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING,
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| BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE,
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| DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF
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| LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE
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| OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF
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| ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
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| 
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| <H2>4. Types and Functions</H2>
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| 
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| <P>
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| The types and functions of SoftFloat are declared in header file
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| <CODE>softfloat.h</CODE>.
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| </P>
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| 
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| <H3>4.1. Boolean and Integer Types</H3>
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| 
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| <P>
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| Header file <CODE>softfloat.h</CODE> depends on standard headers
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| <CODE><stdbool.h></CODE> and <CODE><stdint.h></CODE> to define type
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| <CODE>bool</CODE> and several integer types.
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| These standard headers have been part of the ISO C Standard Library since 1999.
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| With any recent compiler, they are likely to be supported, even if the compiler
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| does not claim complete conformance to the latest ISO C Standard.
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| For older or nonstandard compilers, a port of SoftFloat may have substitutes
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| for these headers.
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| Header <CODE>softfloat.h</CODE> depends only on the name <CODE>bool</CODE> from
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| <CODE><stdbool.h></CODE> and on these type names from
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| <CODE><stdint.h></CODE>:
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| <BLOCKQUOTE>
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| <PRE>
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| uint16_t
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| uint32_t
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| uint64_t
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| int32_t
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| int64_t
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| uint_fast8_t
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| uint_fast32_t
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| uint_fast64_t
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| int_fast32_t
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| int_fast64_t
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| </PRE>
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| </BLOCKQUOTE>
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| </P>
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| 
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| 
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| <H3>4.2. Floating-Point Types</H3>
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| 
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| <P>
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| The <CODE>softfloat.h</CODE> header defines five floating-point types:
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| <BLOCKQUOTE>
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| <TABLE CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0>
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| <TR>
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| <TD><CODE>float16_t</CODE></TD>
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| <TD><NOBR>16-bit</NOBR> half-precision binary format</TD>
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| </TR>
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| <TR>
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| <TD><CODE>float32_t</CODE></TD>
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| <TD><NOBR>32-bit</NOBR> single-precision binary format</TD>
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| </TR>
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| <TR>
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| <TD><CODE>float64_t</CODE></TD>
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| <TD><NOBR>64-bit</NOBR> double-precision binary format</TD>
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| </TR>
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| <TR>
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| <TD><CODE>extFloat80_t   </CODE></TD>
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| <TD><NOBR>80-bit</NOBR> double-extended-precision binary format (old Intel or
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| Motorola format)</TD>
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| </TR>
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| <TR>
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| <TD><CODE>float128_t</CODE></TD>
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| <TD><NOBR>128-bit</NOBR> quadruple-precision binary format</TD>
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| </TR>
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| </TABLE>
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| </BLOCKQUOTE>
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| The non-extended types are each exactly the size specified:
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| <NOBR>16 bits</NOBR> for <CODE>float16_t</CODE>, <NOBR>32 bits</NOBR> for
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| <CODE>float32_t</CODE>, <NOBR>64 bits</NOBR> for <CODE>float64_t</CODE>, and
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| <NOBR>128 bits</NOBR> for <CODE>float128_t</CODE>.
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| Aside from these size requirements, the definitions of all these types may
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| differ for different ports of SoftFloat to specific systems.
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| A given port of SoftFloat may or may not define some of the floating-point
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| types as aliases for the C standard types <CODE>float</CODE>,
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| <CODE>double</CODE>, and <CODE>long</CODE> <CODE>double</CODE>.
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| </P>
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| 
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| <P>
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| Header file <CODE>softfloat.h</CODE> also defines a structure,
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| <CODE>struct</CODE> <CODE>extFloat80M</CODE>, for the representation of
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| <NOBR>80-bit</NOBR> double-extended-precision floating-point values in memory.
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| This structure is the same size as type <CODE>extFloat80_t</CODE> and contains
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| at least these two fields (not necessarily in this order):
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| <BLOCKQUOTE>
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| <PRE>
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| uint16_t signExp;
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| uint64_t signif;
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| </PRE>
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| </BLOCKQUOTE>
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| Field <CODE>signExp</CODE> contains the sign and exponent of the floating-point
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| value, with the sign in the most significant bit (<NOBR>bit 15</NOBR>) and the
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| encoded exponent in the other <NOBR>15 bits</NOBR>.
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| Field <CODE>signif</CODE> is the complete <NOBR>64-bit</NOBR> significand of
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| the floating-point value.
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| (In the usual encoding for <NOBR>80-bit</NOBR> extended floating-point, the
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| leading <NOBR>1 bit</NOBR> of normalized numbers is not implicit but is stored
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| in the most significant bit of the significand.)
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| </P>
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| 
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| <H3>4.3. Supported Floating-Point Functions</H3>
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| 
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| <P>
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| SoftFloat implements these arithmetic operations for its floating-point types:
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| <UL>
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| <LI>
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| conversions between any two floating-point formats;
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| <LI>
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| for each floating-point format, conversions to and from signed and unsigned
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| <NOBR>32-bit</NOBR> and <NOBR>64-bit</NOBR> integers;
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| <LI>
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| for each format, the usual addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and
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| square root operations;
 | |
| <LI>
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| for each format except <CODE>extFloat80_t</CODE>, the fused multiply-add
 | |
| operation defined by the IEEE Standard;
 | |
| <LI>
 | |
| for each format, the floating-point remainder operation defined by the IEEE
 | |
| Standard;
 | |
| <LI>
 | |
| for each format, a “round to integer” operation that rounds to the
 | |
| nearest integer value in the same format; and
 | |
| <LI>
 | |
| comparisons between two values in the same floating-point format.
 | |
| </UL>
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| The following operations required by the 2008 IEEE Floating-Point Standard are
 | |
| not supported in SoftFloat <NOBR>Release 3e</NOBR>:
 | |
| <UL>
 | |
| <LI>
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| <B>nextUp</B>, <B>nextDown</B>, <B>minNum</B>, <B>maxNum</B>, <B>minNumMag</B>,
 | |
| <B>maxNumMag</B>, <B>scaleB</B>, and <B>logB</B>;
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| <LI>
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| conversions between floating-point formats and decimal or hexadecimal character
 | |
| sequences;
 | |
| <LI>
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| all “quiet-computation” operations (<B>copy</B>, <B>negate</B>,
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| <B>abs</B>, and <B>copySign</B>, which all involve only simple copying and/or
 | |
| manipulation of the floating-point sign bit); and
 | |
| <LI>
 | |
| all “non-computational” operations other than <B>isSignaling</B>
 | |
| (which is supported).
 | |
| </UL>
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <H3>4.4. Non-canonical Representations in <CODE>extFloat80_t</CODE></H3>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| Because the <NOBR>80-bit</NOBR> double-extended-precision format,
 | |
| <CODE>extFloat80_t</CODE>, stores an explicit leading significand bit, many
 | |
| finite floating-point numbers are encodable in this type in multiple equivalent
 | |
| forms.
 | |
| Of these multiple encodings, there is always a unique one with the least
 | |
| encoded exponent value, and this encoding is considered the <I>canonical</I>
 | |
| representation of the floating-point number.
 | |
| Any other equivalent representations (having a higher encoded exponent value)
 | |
| are <I>non-canonical</I>.
 | |
| For a value in the subnormal range (including zero), the canonical
 | |
| representation always has an encoded exponent of zero and a leading significand
 | |
| bit <NOBR>of 0</NOBR>.
 | |
| For finite values outside the subnormal range, the canonical representation
 | |
| always has an encoded exponent that is nonzero and a leading significand bit
 | |
| <NOBR>of 1</NOBR>.
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| For an infinity or NaN, the leading significand bit is similarly expected to
 | |
| <NOBR>be 1</NOBR>.
 | |
| An infinity or NaN with a leading significand bit <NOBR>of 0</NOBR> is again
 | |
| considered non-canonical.
 | |
| Hence, altogether, to be canonical, a value of type <CODE>extFloat80_t</CODE>
 | |
| must have a leading significand bit <NOBR>of 1</NOBR>, unless the value is
 | |
| subnormal or zero, in which case the leading significand bit and the encoded
 | |
| exponent must both be zero.
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| SoftFloat’s functions are not guaranteed to operate as expected when
 | |
| inputs of type <CODE>extFloat80_t</CODE> are non-canonical.
 | |
| Assuming all of a function’s <CODE>extFloat80_t</CODE> inputs (if any)
 | |
| are canonical, function outputs of type <CODE>extFloat80_t</CODE> will always
 | |
| be canonical.
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <H3>4.5. Conventions for Passing Arguments and Results</H3>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| Values that are at most <NOBR>64 bits</NOBR> in size (i.e., not the
 | |
| <NOBR>80-bit</NOBR> or <NOBR>128-bit</NOBR> floating-point formats) are in all
 | |
| cases passed as function arguments by value.
 | |
| Likewise, when an output of a function is no more than <NOBR>64 bits</NOBR>, it
 | |
| is always returned directly as the function result.
 | |
| Thus, for example, the SoftFloat function for adding two <NOBR>64-bit</NOBR>
 | |
| floating-point values has this simple signature:
 | |
| <BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| <CODE>float64_t f64_add( float64_t, float64_t );</CODE>
 | |
| </BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| The story is more complex when function inputs and outputs are
 | |
| <NOBR>80-bit</NOBR> and <NOBR>128-bit</NOBR> floating-point.
 | |
| For these types, SoftFloat always provides a function that passes these larger
 | |
| values into or out of the function indirectly, via pointers.
 | |
| For example, for adding two <NOBR>128-bit</NOBR> floating-point values,
 | |
| SoftFloat supplies this function:
 | |
| <BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| <CODE>void f128M_add( const float128_t *, const float128_t *, float128_t * );</CODE>
 | |
| </BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| The first two arguments point to the values to be added, and the last argument
 | |
| points to the location where the sum will be stored.
 | |
| The <CODE>M</CODE> in the name <CODE>f128M_add</CODE> is mnemonic for the fact
 | |
| that the <NOBR>128-bit</NOBR> inputs and outputs are “in memory”,
 | |
| pointed to by pointer arguments.
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| All ports of SoftFloat implement these <I>pass-by-pointer</I> functions for
 | |
| types <CODE>extFloat80_t</CODE> and <CODE>float128_t</CODE>.
 | |
| At the same time, SoftFloat ports may also implement alternate versions of
 | |
| these same functions that pass <CODE>extFloat80_t</CODE> and
 | |
| <CODE>float128_t</CODE> by value, like the smaller formats.
 | |
| Thus, besides the function with name <CODE>f128M_add</CODE> shown above, a
 | |
| SoftFloat port may also supply an equivalent function with this signature:
 | |
| <BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| <CODE>float128_t f128_add( float128_t, float128_t );</CODE>
 | |
| </BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| As a general rule, on computers where the machine word size is
 | |
| <NOBR>32 bits</NOBR> or smaller, only the pass-by-pointer versions of functions
 | |
| (e.g., <CODE>f128M_add</CODE>) are provided for types <CODE>extFloat80_t</CODE>
 | |
| and <CODE>float128_t</CODE>, because passing such large types directly can have
 | |
| significant extra cost.
 | |
| On computers where the word size is <NOBR>64 bits</NOBR> or larger, both
 | |
| function versions (<CODE>f128M_add</CODE> and <CODE>f128_add</CODE>) are
 | |
| provided, because the cost of passing by value is then more reasonable.
 | |
| Applications that must be portable across both classes of computers must use
 | |
| the pointer-based functions, as these are always implemented.
 | |
| However, if it is known that SoftFloat includes the by-value functions for all
 | |
| platforms of interest, programmers can use whichever version they prefer.
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| 
 | |
| <H2>5. Reserved Names</H2>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| In addition to the variables and functions documented here, SoftFloat defines
 | |
| some symbol names for its own private use.
 | |
| These private names always begin with the prefix
 | |
| ‘<CODE>softfloat_</CODE>’.
 | |
| When a program includes header <CODE>softfloat.h</CODE> or links with the
 | |
| SoftFloat library, all names with prefix ‘<CODE>softfloat_</CODE>’
 | |
| are reserved for possible use by SoftFloat.
 | |
| Applications that use SoftFloat should not define their own names with this
 | |
| prefix, and should reference only such names as are documented.
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| 
 | |
| <H2>6. Mode Variables</H2>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| The following global variables control rounding mode, underflow detection, and
 | |
| the <NOBR>80-bit</NOBR> extended format’s rounding precision:
 | |
| <BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| <CODE>softfloat_roundingMode</CODE><BR>
 | |
| <CODE>softfloat_detectTininess</CODE><BR>
 | |
| <CODE>extF80_roundingPrecision</CODE>
 | |
| </BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| These mode variables are covered in the next several subsections.
 | |
| For some SoftFloat ports, these variables may be <I>per-thread</I> (declared
 | |
| <CODE>thread_local</CODE>), meaning that different execution threads have their
 | |
| own separate copies of the variables.
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <H3>6.1. Rounding Mode</H3>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| All five rounding modes defined by the 2008 IEEE Floating-Point Standard are
 | |
| implemented for all operations that require rounding.
 | |
| Some ports of SoftFloat may also implement the <I>round-to-odd</I> mode.
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| The rounding mode is selected by the global variable
 | |
| <BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| <CODE>uint_fast8_t softfloat_roundingMode;</CODE>
 | |
| </BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| This variable may be set to one of the values
 | |
| <BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| <TABLE CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0>
 | |
| <TR>
 | |
| <TD><CODE>softfloat_round_near_even</CODE></TD>
 | |
| <TD>round to nearest, with ties to even</TD>
 | |
| </TR>
 | |
| <TR>
 | |
| <TD><CODE>softfloat_round_near_maxMag  </CODE></TD>
 | |
| <TD>round to nearest, with ties to maximum magnitude (away from zero)</TD>
 | |
| </TR>
 | |
| <TR>
 | |
| <TD><CODE>softfloat_round_minMag</CODE></TD>
 | |
| <TD>round to minimum magnitude (toward zero)</TD>
 | |
| </TR>
 | |
| <TR>
 | |
| <TD><CODE>softfloat_round_min</CODE></TD>
 | |
| <TD>round to minimum (down)</TD>
 | |
| </TR>
 | |
| <TR>
 | |
| <TD><CODE>softfloat_round_max</CODE></TD>
 | |
| <TD>round to maximum (up)</TD>
 | |
| </TR>
 | |
| <TR>
 | |
| <TD><CODE>softfloat_round_odd</CODE></TD>
 | |
| <TD>round to odd (jamming), if supported by the SoftFloat port</TD>
 | |
| </TR>
 | |
| </TABLE>
 | |
| </BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| Variable <CODE>softfloat_roundingMode</CODE> is initialized to
 | |
| <CODE>softfloat_round_near_even</CODE>.
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| When <CODE>softfloat_round_odd</CODE> is the rounding mode for a function that
 | |
| rounds to an integer value (either conversion to an integer format or a
 | |
| ‘<CODE>roundToInt</CODE>’ function), if the input is not already an
 | |
| integer, the rounded result is the closest <EM>odd</EM> integer.
 | |
| For other operations, this rounding mode acts as though the floating-point
 | |
| result is first rounded to minimum magnitude, the same as
 | |
| <CODE>softfloat_round_minMag</CODE>, and then, if the result is inexact, the
 | |
| least-significant bit of the result is set <NOBR>to 1</NOBR>.
 | |
| Rounding to odd is also known as <EM>jamming</EM>.
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <H3>6.2. Underflow Detection</H3>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| In the terminology of the IEEE Standard, SoftFloat can detect tininess for
 | |
| underflow either before or after rounding.
 | |
| The choice is made by the global variable
 | |
| <BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| <CODE>uint_fast8_t softfloat_detectTininess;</CODE>
 | |
| </BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| which can be set to either
 | |
| <BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| <CODE>softfloat_tininess_beforeRounding</CODE><BR>
 | |
| <CODE>softfloat_tininess_afterRounding</CODE>
 | |
| </BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| Detecting tininess after rounding is usually better because it results in fewer
 | |
| spurious underflow signals.
 | |
| The other option is provided for compatibility with some systems.
 | |
| Like most systems (and as required by the newer 2008 IEEE Standard), SoftFloat
 | |
| always detects loss of accuracy for underflow as an inexact result.
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <H3>6.3. Rounding Precision for the <NOBR>80-Bit</NOBR> Extended Format</H3>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| For <CODE>extFloat80_t</CODE> only, the rounding precision of the basic
 | |
| arithmetic operations is controlled by the global variable
 | |
| <BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| <CODE>uint_fast8_t extF80_roundingPrecision;</CODE>
 | |
| </BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| The operations affected are:
 | |
| <BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| <CODE>extF80_add</CODE><BR>
 | |
| <CODE>extF80_sub</CODE><BR>
 | |
| <CODE>extF80_mul</CODE><BR>
 | |
| <CODE>extF80_div</CODE><BR>
 | |
| <CODE>extF80_sqrt</CODE>
 | |
| </BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| When <CODE>extF80_roundingPrecision</CODE> is set to its default value of 80,
 | |
| these operations are rounded to the full precision of the <NOBR>80-bit</NOBR>
 | |
| double-extended-precision format, like occurs for other formats.
 | |
| Setting <CODE>extF80_roundingPrecision</CODE> to 32 or to 64 causes the
 | |
| operations listed to be rounded to <NOBR>32-bit</NOBR> precision (equivalent to
 | |
| <CODE>float32_t</CODE>) or to <NOBR>64-bit</NOBR> precision (equivalent to
 | |
| <CODE>float64_t</CODE>), respectively.
 | |
| When rounding to reduced precision, additional bits in the result significand
 | |
| beyond the rounding point are set to zero.
 | |
| The consequences of setting <CODE>extF80_roundingPrecision</CODE> to a value
 | |
| other than 32, 64, or 80 is not specified.
 | |
| Operations other than the ones listed above are not affected by
 | |
| <CODE>extF80_roundingPrecision</CODE>.
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| 
 | |
| <H2>7. Exceptions and Exception Flags</H2>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| All five exception flags required by the IEEE Floating-Point Standard are
 | |
| implemented.
 | |
| Each flag is stored as a separate bit in the global variable
 | |
| <BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| <CODE>uint_fast8_t softfloat_exceptionFlags;</CODE>
 | |
| </BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| The positions of the exception flag bits within this variable are determined by
 | |
| the bit masks
 | |
| <BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| <CODE>softfloat_flag_inexact</CODE><BR>
 | |
| <CODE>softfloat_flag_underflow</CODE><BR>
 | |
| <CODE>softfloat_flag_overflow</CODE><BR>
 | |
| <CODE>softfloat_flag_infinite</CODE><BR>
 | |
| <CODE>softfloat_flag_invalid</CODE>
 | |
| </BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| Variable <CODE>softfloat_exceptionFlags</CODE> is initialized to all zeros,
 | |
| meaning no exceptions.
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| For some SoftFloat ports, <CODE>softfloat_exceptionFlags</CODE> may be
 | |
| <I>per-thread</I> (declared <CODE>thread_local</CODE>), meaning that different
 | |
| execution threads have their own separate instances of it.
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| An individual exception flag can be cleared with the statement
 | |
| <BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| <CODE>softfloat_exceptionFlags &= ~softfloat_flag_<<I>exception</I>>;</CODE>
 | |
| </BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| where <CODE><<I>exception</I>></CODE> is the appropriate name.
 | |
| To raise a floating-point exception, function <CODE>softfloat_raiseFlags</CODE>
 | |
| should normally be used.
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| When SoftFloat detects an exception other than <I>inexact</I>, it calls
 | |
| <CODE>softfloat_raiseFlags</CODE>.
 | |
| The default version of this function simply raises the corresponding exception
 | |
| flags.
 | |
| Particular ports of SoftFloat may support alternate behavior, such as exception
 | |
| traps, by modifying the default <CODE>softfloat_raiseFlags</CODE>.
 | |
| A program may also supply its own <CODE>softfloat_raiseFlags</CODE> function to
 | |
| override the one from the SoftFloat library.
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| Because inexact results occur frequently under most circumstances (and thus are
 | |
| hardly exceptional), SoftFloat does not ordinarily call
 | |
| <CODE>softfloat_raiseFlags</CODE> for <I>inexact</I> exceptions.
 | |
| It does always raise the <I>inexact</I> exception flag as required.
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| 
 | |
| <H2>8. Function Details</H2>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| In this section, <CODE><<I>float</I>></CODE> appears in function names as
 | |
| a substitute for one of these abbreviations:
 | |
| <BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| <TABLE CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0>
 | |
| <TR>
 | |
| <TD><CODE>f16</CODE></TD>
 | |
| <TD>indicates <CODE>float16_t</CODE>, passed by value</TD>
 | |
| </TR>
 | |
| <TR>
 | |
| <TD><CODE>f32</CODE></TD>
 | |
| <TD>indicates <CODE>float32_t</CODE>, passed by value</TD>
 | |
| </TR>
 | |
| <TR>
 | |
| <TD><CODE>f64</CODE></TD>
 | |
| <TD>indicates <CODE>float64_t</CODE>, passed by value</TD>
 | |
| </TR>
 | |
| <TR>
 | |
| <TD><CODE>extF80M   </CODE></TD>
 | |
| <TD>indicates <CODE>extFloat80_t</CODE>, passed indirectly via pointers</TD>
 | |
| </TR>
 | |
| <TR>
 | |
| <TD><CODE>extF80</CODE></TD>
 | |
| <TD>indicates <CODE>extFloat80_t</CODE>, passed by value</TD>
 | |
| </TR>
 | |
| <TR>
 | |
| <TD><CODE>f128M</CODE></TD>
 | |
| <TD>indicates <CODE>float128_t</CODE>, passed indirectly via pointers</TD>
 | |
| </TR>
 | |
| <TR>
 | |
| <TD><CODE>f128</CODE></TD>
 | |
| <TD>indicates <CODE>float128_t</CODE>, passed by value</TD>
 | |
| </TR>
 | |
| </TABLE>
 | |
| </BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| The circumstances under which values of floating-point types
 | |
| <CODE>extFloat80_t</CODE> and <CODE>float128_t</CODE> may be passed either by
 | |
| value or indirectly via pointers was discussed earlier in
 | |
| <NOBR>section 4.5</NOBR>, <I>Conventions for Passing Arguments and Results</I>.
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <H3>8.1. Conversions from Integer to Floating-Point</H3>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| All conversions from a <NOBR>32-bit</NOBR> or <NOBR>64-bit</NOBR> integer,
 | |
| signed or unsigned, to a floating-point format are supported.
 | |
| Functions performing these conversions have these names:
 | |
| <BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| <CODE>ui32_to_<<I>float</I>></CODE><BR>
 | |
| <CODE>ui64_to_<<I>float</I>></CODE><BR>
 | |
| <CODE>i32_to_<<I>float</I>></CODE><BR>
 | |
| <CODE>i64_to_<<I>float</I>></CODE>
 | |
| </BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| Conversions from <NOBR>32-bit</NOBR> integers to <NOBR>64-bit</NOBR>
 | |
| double-precision and larger formats are always exact, and likewise conversions
 | |
| from <NOBR>64-bit</NOBR> integers to <NOBR>80-bit</NOBR>
 | |
| double-extended-precision and <NOBR>128-bit</NOBR> quadruple-precision are also
 | |
| always exact.
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| Each conversion function takes one input of the appropriate type and generates
 | |
| one output.
 | |
| The following illustrates the signatures of these functions in cases when the
 | |
| floating-point result is passed either by value or via pointers:
 | |
| <BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| <PRE>
 | |
| float64_t i32_to_f64( int32_t <I>a</I> );
 | |
| </PRE>
 | |
| <PRE>
 | |
| void i32_to_f128M( int32_t <I>a</I>, float128_t *<I>destPtr</I> );
 | |
| </PRE>
 | |
| </BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <H3>8.2. Conversions from Floating-Point to Integer</H3>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| Conversions from a floating-point format to a <NOBR>32-bit</NOBR> or
 | |
| <NOBR>64-bit</NOBR> integer, signed or unsigned, are supported with these
 | |
| functions:
 | |
| <BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| <CODE><<I>float</I>>_to_ui32</CODE><BR>
 | |
| <CODE><<I>float</I>>_to_ui64</CODE><BR>
 | |
| <CODE><<I>float</I>>_to_i32</CODE><BR>
 | |
| <CODE><<I>float</I>>_to_i64</CODE>
 | |
| </BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| The functions have signatures as follows, depending on whether the
 | |
| floating-point input is passed by value or via pointers:
 | |
| <BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| <PRE>
 | |
| int_fast32_t f64_to_i32( float64_t <I>a</I>, uint_fast8_t <I>roundingMode</I>, bool <I>exact</I> );
 | |
| </PRE>
 | |
| <PRE>
 | |
| int_fast32_t
 | |
|  f128M_to_i32( const float128_t *<I>aPtr</I>, uint_fast8_t <I>roundingMode</I>, bool <I>exact</I> );
 | |
| </PRE>
 | |
| </BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| The <CODE><I>roundingMode</I></CODE> argument specifies the rounding mode for
 | |
| the conversion.
 | |
| The variable that usually indicates rounding mode,
 | |
| <CODE>softfloat_roundingMode</CODE>, is ignored.
 | |
| Argument <CODE><I>exact</I></CODE> determines whether the <I>inexact</I>
 | |
| exception flag is raised if the conversion is not exact.
 | |
| If <CODE><I>exact</I></CODE> is <CODE>true</CODE>, the <I>inexact</I> flag may
 | |
| be raised;
 | |
| otherwise, it will not be, even if the conversion is inexact.
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| A conversion from floating-point to integer format raises the <I>invalid</I>
 | |
| exception if the source value cannot be rounded to a representable integer of
 | |
| the desired size (32 or 64 bits).
 | |
| In such circumstances, the integer result returned is determined by the
 | |
| particular port of SoftFloat, although typically this value will be either the
 | |
| maximum or minimum value of the integer format.
 | |
| The functions that convert to integer types never raise the floating-point
 | |
| <I>overflow</I> exception.
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| Because languages such <NOBR>as C</NOBR> require that conversions to integers
 | |
| be rounded toward zero, the following functions are provided for improved speed
 | |
| and convenience:
 | |
| <BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| <CODE><<I>float</I>>_to_ui32_r_minMag</CODE><BR>
 | |
| <CODE><<I>float</I>>_to_ui64_r_minMag</CODE><BR>
 | |
| <CODE><<I>float</I>>_to_i32_r_minMag</CODE><BR>
 | |
| <CODE><<I>float</I>>_to_i64_r_minMag</CODE>
 | |
| </BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| These functions round only toward zero (to minimum magnitude).
 | |
| The signatures for these functions are the same as above without the redundant
 | |
| <CODE><I>roundingMode</I></CODE> argument:
 | |
| <BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| <PRE>
 | |
| int_fast32_t f64_to_i32_r_minMag( float64_t <I>a</I>, bool <I>exact</I> );
 | |
| </PRE>
 | |
| <PRE>
 | |
| int_fast32_t f128M_to_i32_r_minMag( const float128_t *<I>aPtr</I>, bool <I>exact</I> );
 | |
| </PRE>
 | |
| </BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <H3>8.3. Conversions Among Floating-Point Types</H3>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| Conversions between floating-point formats are done by functions with these
 | |
| names:
 | |
| <BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| <CODE><<I>float</I>>_to_<<I>float</I>></CODE>
 | |
| </BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| All combinations of source and result type are supported where the source and
 | |
| result are different formats.
 | |
| There are four different styles of signature for these functions, depending on
 | |
| whether the input and the output floating-point values are passed by value or
 | |
| via pointers:
 | |
| <BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| <PRE>
 | |
| float32_t f64_to_f32( float64_t <I>a</I> );
 | |
| </PRE>
 | |
| <PRE>
 | |
| float32_t f128M_to_f32( const float128_t *<I>aPtr</I> );
 | |
| </PRE>
 | |
| <PRE>
 | |
| void f32_to_f128M( float32_t <I>a</I>, float128_t *<I>destPtr</I> );
 | |
| </PRE>
 | |
| <PRE>
 | |
| void extF80M_to_f128M( const extFloat80_t *<I>aPtr</I>, float128_t *<I>destPtr</I> );
 | |
| </PRE>
 | |
| </BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| Conversions from a smaller to a larger floating-point format are always exact
 | |
| and so require no rounding.
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <H3>8.4. Basic Arithmetic Functions</H3>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| The following basic arithmetic functions are provided:
 | |
| <BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| <CODE><<I>float</I>>_add</CODE><BR>
 | |
| <CODE><<I>float</I>>_sub</CODE><BR>
 | |
| <CODE><<I>float</I>>_mul</CODE><BR>
 | |
| <CODE><<I>float</I>>_div</CODE><BR>
 | |
| <CODE><<I>float</I>>_sqrt</CODE>
 | |
| </BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| Each floating-point operation takes two operands, except for <CODE>sqrt</CODE>
 | |
| (square root) which takes only one.
 | |
| The operands and result are all of the same floating-point format.
 | |
| Signatures for these functions take the following forms:
 | |
| <BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| <PRE>
 | |
| float64_t f64_add( float64_t <I>a</I>, float64_t <I>b</I> );
 | |
| </PRE>
 | |
| <PRE>
 | |
| void
 | |
|  f128M_add(
 | |
|      const float128_t *<I>aPtr</I>, const float128_t *<I>bPtr</I>, float128_t *<I>destPtr</I> );
 | |
| </PRE>
 | |
| <PRE>
 | |
| float64_t f64_sqrt( float64_t <I>a</I> );
 | |
| </PRE>
 | |
| <PRE>
 | |
| void f128M_sqrt( const float128_t *<I>aPtr</I>, float128_t *<I>destPtr</I> );
 | |
| </PRE>
 | |
| </BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| When floating-point values are passed indirectly through pointers, arguments
 | |
| <CODE><I>aPtr</I></CODE> and <CODE><I>bPtr</I></CODE> point to the input
 | |
| operands, and the last argument, <CODE><I>destPtr</I></CODE>, points to the
 | |
| location where the result is stored.
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| Rounding of the <NOBR>80-bit</NOBR> double-extended-precision
 | |
| (<CODE>extFloat80_t</CODE>) functions is affected by variable
 | |
| <CODE>extF80_roundingPrecision</CODE>, as explained earlier in
 | |
| <NOBR>section 6.3</NOBR>,
 | |
| <I>Rounding Precision for the <NOBR>80-Bit</NOBR> Extended Format</I>.
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <H3>8.5. Fused Multiply-Add Functions</H3>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| The 2008 version of the IEEE Floating-Point Standard defines a <I>fused
 | |
| multiply-add</I> operation that does a combined multiplication and addition
 | |
| with only a single rounding.
 | |
| SoftFloat implements fused multiply-add with functions
 | |
| <BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| <CODE><<I>float</I>>_mulAdd</CODE>
 | |
| </BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| Unlike other operations, fused multiple-add is not supported for the
 | |
| <NOBR>80-bit</NOBR> double-extended-precision format,
 | |
| <CODE>extFloat80_t</CODE>.
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| Depending on whether floating-point values are passed by value or via pointers,
 | |
| the fused multiply-add functions have signatures of these forms:
 | |
| <BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| <PRE>
 | |
| float64_t f64_mulAdd( float64_t <I>a</I>, float64_t <I>b</I>, float64_t <I>c</I> );
 | |
| </PRE>
 | |
| <PRE>
 | |
| void
 | |
|  f128M_mulAdd(
 | |
|      const float128_t *<I>aPtr</I>,
 | |
|      const float128_t *<I>bPtr</I>,
 | |
|      const float128_t *<I>cPtr</I>,
 | |
|      float128_t *<I>destPtr</I>
 | |
|  );
 | |
| </PRE>
 | |
| </BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| The functions compute
 | |
| <NOBR>(<CODE><I>a</I></CODE> × <CODE><I>b</I></CODE>)
 | |
|  + <CODE><I>c</I></CODE></NOBR>
 | |
| with a single rounding.
 | |
| When floating-point values are passed indirectly through pointers, arguments
 | |
| <CODE><I>aPtr</I></CODE>, <CODE><I>bPtr</I></CODE>, and
 | |
| <CODE><I>cPtr</I></CODE> point to operands <CODE><I>a</I></CODE>,
 | |
| <CODE><I>b</I></CODE>, and <CODE><I>c</I></CODE> respectively, and
 | |
| <CODE><I>destPtr</I></CODE> points to the location where the result is stored.
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| If one of the multiplication operands <CODE><I>a</I></CODE> and
 | |
| <CODE><I>b</I></CODE> is infinite and the other is zero, these functions raise
 | |
| the invalid exception even if operand <CODE><I>c</I></CODE> is a quiet NaN.
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <H3>8.6. Remainder Functions</H3>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| For each format, SoftFloat implements the remainder operation defined by the
 | |
| IEEE Floating-Point Standard.
 | |
| The remainder functions have names
 | |
| <BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| <CODE><<I>float</I>>_rem</CODE>
 | |
| </BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| Each remainder operation takes two floating-point operands of the same format
 | |
| and returns a result in the same format.
 | |
| Depending on whether floating-point values are passed by value or via pointers,
 | |
| the remainder functions have signatures of these forms:
 | |
| <BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| <PRE>
 | |
| float64_t f64_rem( float64_t <I>a</I>, float64_t <I>b</I> );
 | |
| </PRE>
 | |
| <PRE>
 | |
| void
 | |
|  f128M_rem(
 | |
|      const float128_t *<I>aPtr</I>, const float128_t *<I>bPtr</I>, float128_t *<I>destPtr</I> );
 | |
| </PRE>
 | |
| </BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| When floating-point values are passed indirectly through pointers, arguments
 | |
| <CODE><I>aPtr</I></CODE> and <CODE><I>bPtr</I></CODE> point to operands
 | |
| <CODE><I>a</I></CODE> and <CODE><I>b</I></CODE> respectively, and
 | |
| <CODE><I>destPtr</I></CODE> points to the location where the result is stored.
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| The IEEE Standard remainder operation computes the value
 | |
| <NOBR><CODE><I>a</I></CODE>
 | |
|  − <I>n</I> × <CODE><I>b</I></CODE></NOBR>,
 | |
| where <I>n</I> is the integer closest to
 | |
| <NOBR><CODE><I>a</I></CODE> ÷ <CODE><I>b</I></CODE></NOBR>.
 | |
| If <NOBR><CODE><I>a</I></CODE> ÷ <CODE><I>b</I></CODE></NOBR> is exactly
 | |
| halfway between two integers, <I>n</I> is the <EM>even</EM> integer closest to
 | |
| <NOBR><CODE><I>a</I></CODE> ÷ <CODE><I>b</I></CODE></NOBR>.
 | |
| The IEEE Standard’s remainder operation is always exact and so requires
 | |
| no rounding.
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| Depending on the relative magnitudes of the operands, the remainder
 | |
| functions can take considerably longer to execute than the other SoftFloat
 | |
| functions.
 | |
| This is an inherent characteristic of the remainder operation itself and is not
 | |
| a flaw in the SoftFloat implementation.
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <H3>8.7. Round-to-Integer Functions</H3>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| For each format, SoftFloat implements the round-to-integer operation specified
 | |
| by the IEEE Floating-Point Standard.
 | |
| These functions are named
 | |
| <BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| <CODE><<I>float</I>>_roundToInt</CODE>
 | |
| </BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| Each round-to-integer operation takes a single floating-point operand.
 | |
| This operand is rounded to an integer according to a specified rounding mode,
 | |
| and the resulting integer value is returned in the same floating-point format.
 | |
| (Note that the result is not an integer type.)
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| The signatures of the round-to-integer functions are similar to those for
 | |
| conversions to an integer type:
 | |
| <BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| <PRE>
 | |
| float64_t f64_roundToInt( float64_t <I>a</I>, uint_fast8_t <I>roundingMode</I>, bool <I>exact</I> );
 | |
| </PRE>
 | |
| <PRE>
 | |
| void
 | |
|  f128M_roundToInt(
 | |
|      const float128_t *<I>aPtr</I>,
 | |
|      uint_fast8_t <I>roundingMode</I>,
 | |
|      bool <I>exact</I>,
 | |
|      float128_t *<I>destPtr</I>
 | |
|  );
 | |
| </PRE>
 | |
| </BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| When floating-point values are passed indirectly through pointers,
 | |
| <CODE><I>aPtr</I></CODE> points to the input operand and
 | |
| <CODE><I>destPtr</I></CODE> points to the location where the result is stored.
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| The <CODE><I>roundingMode</I></CODE> argument specifies the rounding mode to
 | |
| apply.
 | |
| The variable that usually indicates rounding mode,
 | |
| <CODE>softfloat_roundingMode</CODE>, is ignored.
 | |
| Argument <CODE><I>exact</I></CODE> determines whether the <I>inexact</I>
 | |
| exception flag is raised if the conversion is not exact.
 | |
| If <CODE><I>exact</I></CODE> is <CODE>true</CODE>, the <I>inexact</I> flag may
 | |
| be raised;
 | |
| otherwise, it will not be, even if the conversion is inexact.
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <H3>8.8. Comparison Functions</H3>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| For each format, the following floating-point comparison functions are
 | |
| provided:
 | |
| <BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| <CODE><<I>float</I>>_eq</CODE><BR>
 | |
| <CODE><<I>float</I>>_le</CODE><BR>
 | |
| <CODE><<I>float</I>>_lt</CODE>
 | |
| </BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| Each comparison takes two operands of the same type and returns a Boolean.
 | |
| The abbreviation <CODE>eq</CODE> stands for “equal” (=);
 | |
| <CODE>le</CODE> stands for “less than or equal” (≤);
 | |
| and <CODE>lt</CODE> stands for “less than” (<).
 | |
| Depending on whether the floating-point operands are passed by value or via
 | |
| pointers, the comparison functions have signatures of these forms:
 | |
| <BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| <PRE>
 | |
| bool f64_eq( float64_t <I>a</I>, float64_t <I>b</I> );
 | |
| </PRE>
 | |
| <PRE>
 | |
| bool f128M_eq( const float128_t *<I>aPtr</I>, const float128_t *<I>bPtr</I> );
 | |
| </PRE>
 | |
| </BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| The usual greater-than (>), greater-than-or-equal (≥), and not-equal
 | |
| (≠) comparisons are easily obtained from the functions provided.
 | |
| The not-equal function is just the logical complement of the equal function.
 | |
| The greater-than-or-equal function is identical to the less-than-or-equal
 | |
| function with the arguments in reverse order, and likewise the greater-than
 | |
| function is identical to the less-than function with the arguments reversed.
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| The IEEE Floating-Point Standard specifies that the less-than-or-equal and
 | |
| less-than comparisons by default raise the <I>invalid</I> exception if either
 | |
| operand is any kind of NaN.
 | |
| Equality comparisons, on the other hand, are defined by default to raise the
 | |
| <I>invalid</I> exception only for signaling NaNs, not quiet NaNs.
 | |
| For completeness, SoftFloat provides these complementary functions:
 | |
| <BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| <CODE><<I>float</I>>_eq_signaling</CODE><BR>
 | |
| <CODE><<I>float</I>>_le_quiet</CODE><BR>
 | |
| <CODE><<I>float</I>>_lt_quiet</CODE>
 | |
| </BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| The <CODE>signaling</CODE> equality comparisons are identical to the default
 | |
| equality comparisons except that the <I>invalid</I> exception is raised for any
 | |
| NaN input, not just for signaling NaNs.
 | |
| Similarly, the <CODE>quiet</CODE> comparison functions are identical to their
 | |
| default counterparts except that the <I>invalid</I> exception is not raised for
 | |
| quiet NaNs.
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <H3>8.9. Signaling NaN Test Functions</H3>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| Functions for testing whether a floating-point value is a signaling NaN are
 | |
| provided with these names:
 | |
| <BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| <CODE><<I>float</I>>_isSignalingNaN</CODE>
 | |
| </BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| The functions take one floating-point operand and return a Boolean indicating
 | |
| whether the operand is a signaling NaN.
 | |
| Accordingly, the functions have the forms
 | |
| <BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| <PRE>
 | |
| bool f64_isSignalingNaN( float64_t <I>a</I> );
 | |
| </PRE>
 | |
| <PRE>
 | |
| bool f128M_isSignalingNaN( const float128_t *<I>aPtr</I> );
 | |
| </PRE>
 | |
| </BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <H3>8.10. Raise-Exception Function</H3>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| SoftFloat provides a single function for raising floating-point exceptions:
 | |
| <BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| <PRE>
 | |
| void softfloat_raiseFlags( uint_fast8_t <I>exceptions</I> );
 | |
| </PRE>
 | |
| </BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| The <CODE><I>exceptions</I></CODE> argument is a mask indicating the set of
 | |
| exceptions to raise.
 | |
| (See earlier section 7, <I>Exceptions and Exception Flags</I>.)
 | |
| In addition to setting the specified exception flags in variable
 | |
| <CODE>softfloat_exceptionFlags</CODE>, the <CODE>softfloat_raiseFlags</CODE>
 | |
| function may cause a trap or abort appropriate for the current system.
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| 
 | |
| <H2>9. Changes from SoftFloat <NOBR>Release 2</NOBR></H2>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| Apart from a change in the legal use license, <NOBR>Release 3</NOBR> of
 | |
| SoftFloat introduced numerous technical differences compared to earlier
 | |
| releases.
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <H3>9.1. Name Changes</H3>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| The most obvious and pervasive difference compared to <NOBR>Release 2</NOBR>
 | |
| is that the names of most functions and variables have changed, even when the
 | |
| behavior has not.
 | |
| First, the floating-point types, the mode variables, the exception flags
 | |
| variable, the function to raise exceptions, and various associated constants
 | |
| have been renamed as follows:
 | |
| <BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| <TABLE>
 | |
| <TR>
 | |
| <TD>old name, Release 2:</TD>
 | |
| <TD>new name, Release 3:</TD>
 | |
| </TR>
 | |
| <TR>
 | |
| <TD><CODE>float32</CODE></TD>
 | |
| <TD><CODE>float32_t</CODE></TD>
 | |
| </TR>
 | |
| <TR>
 | |
| <TD><CODE>float64</CODE></TD>
 | |
| <TD><CODE>float64_t</CODE></TD>
 | |
| </TR>
 | |
| <TR>
 | |
| <TD><CODE>floatx80</CODE></TD>
 | |
| <TD><CODE>extFloat80_t</CODE></TD>
 | |
| </TR>
 | |
| <TR>
 | |
| <TD><CODE>float128</CODE></TD>
 | |
| <TD><CODE>float128_t</CODE></TD>
 | |
| </TR>
 | |
| <TR>
 | |
| <TD><CODE>float_rounding_mode</CODE></TD>
 | |
| <TD><CODE>softfloat_roundingMode</CODE></TD>
 | |
| </TR>
 | |
| <TR>
 | |
| <TD><CODE>float_round_nearest_even</CODE></TD>
 | |
| <TD><CODE>softfloat_round_near_even</CODE></TD>
 | |
| </TR>
 | |
| <TR>
 | |
| <TD><CODE>float_round_to_zero</CODE></TD>
 | |
| <TD><CODE>softfloat_round_minMag</CODE></TD>
 | |
| </TR>
 | |
| <TR>
 | |
| <TD><CODE>float_round_down</CODE></TD>
 | |
| <TD><CODE>softfloat_round_min</CODE></TD>
 | |
| </TR>
 | |
| <TR>
 | |
| <TD><CODE>float_round_up</CODE></TD>
 | |
| <TD><CODE>softfloat_round_max</CODE></TD>
 | |
| </TR>
 | |
| <TR>
 | |
| <TD><CODE>float_detect_tininess</CODE></TD>
 | |
| <TD><CODE>softfloat_detectTininess</CODE></TD>
 | |
| </TR>
 | |
| <TR>
 | |
| <TD><CODE>float_tininess_before_rounding    </CODE></TD>
 | |
| <TD><CODE>softfloat_tininess_beforeRounding</CODE></TD>
 | |
| </TR>
 | |
| <TR>
 | |
| <TD><CODE>float_tininess_after_rounding</CODE></TD>
 | |
| <TD><CODE>softfloat_tininess_afterRounding</CODE></TD>
 | |
| </TR>
 | |
| <TR>
 | |
| <TD><CODE>floatx80_rounding_precision</CODE></TD>
 | |
| <TD><CODE>extF80_roundingPrecision</CODE></TD>
 | |
| </TR>
 | |
| <TR>
 | |
| <TD><CODE>float_exception_flags</CODE></TD>
 | |
| <TD><CODE>softfloat_exceptionFlags</CODE></TD>
 | |
| </TR>
 | |
| <TR>
 | |
| <TD><CODE>float_flag_inexact</CODE></TD>
 | |
| <TD><CODE>softfloat_flag_inexact</CODE></TD>
 | |
| </TR>
 | |
| <TR>
 | |
| <TD><CODE>float_flag_underflow</CODE></TD>
 | |
| <TD><CODE>softfloat_flag_underflow</CODE></TD>
 | |
| </TR>
 | |
| <TR>
 | |
| <TD><CODE>float_flag_overflow</CODE></TD>
 | |
| <TD><CODE>softfloat_flag_overflow</CODE></TD>
 | |
| </TR>
 | |
| <TR>
 | |
| <TD><CODE>float_flag_divbyzero</CODE></TD>
 | |
| <TD><CODE>softfloat_flag_infinite</CODE></TD>
 | |
| </TR>
 | |
| <TR>
 | |
| <TD><CODE>float_flag_invalid</CODE></TD>
 | |
| <TD><CODE>softfloat_flag_invalid</CODE></TD>
 | |
| </TR>
 | |
| <TR>
 | |
| <TD><CODE>float_raise</CODE></TD>
 | |
| <TD><CODE>softfloat_raiseFlags</CODE></TD>
 | |
| </TR>
 | |
| </TABLE>
 | |
| </BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| Furthermore, <NOBR>Release 3</NOBR> adopted the following new abbreviations for
 | |
| function names:
 | |
| <BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| <TABLE>
 | |
| <TR>
 | |
| <TD>used in names in Release 2:<CODE>    </CODE></TD>
 | |
| <TD>used in names in Release 3:</TD>
 | |
| </TR>
 | |
| <TR> <TD><CODE>int32</CODE></TD>    <TD><CODE>i32</CODE></TD>    </TR>
 | |
| <TR> <TD><CODE>int64</CODE></TD>    <TD><CODE>i64</CODE></TD>    </TR>
 | |
| <TR> <TD><CODE>float32</CODE></TD>  <TD><CODE>f32</CODE></TD>    </TR>
 | |
| <TR> <TD><CODE>float64</CODE></TD>  <TD><CODE>f64</CODE></TD>    </TR>
 | |
| <TR> <TD><CODE>floatx80</CODE></TD> <TD><CODE>extF80</CODE></TD> </TR>
 | |
| <TR> <TD><CODE>float128</CODE></TD> <TD><CODE>f128</CODE></TD>   </TR>
 | |
| </TABLE>
 | |
| </BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| Thus, for example, the function to add two <NOBR>32-bit</NOBR> floating-point
 | |
| numbers, previously called <CODE>float32_add</CODE> in <NOBR>Release 2</NOBR>,
 | |
| is now <CODE>f32_add</CODE>.
 | |
| Lastly, there have been a few other changes to function names:
 | |
| <BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| <TABLE>
 | |
| <TR>
 | |
| <TD>used in names in Release 2:<CODE>   </CODE></TD>
 | |
| <TD>used in names in Release 3:<CODE>   </CODE></TD>
 | |
| <TD>relevant functions:</TD>
 | |
| </TR>
 | |
| <TR>
 | |
| <TD><CODE>_round_to_zero</CODE></TD>
 | |
| <TD><CODE>_r_minMag</CODE></TD>
 | |
| <TD>conversions from floating-point to integer (<NOBR>section 8.2</NOBR>)</TD>
 | |
| </TR>
 | |
| <TR>
 | |
| <TD><CODE>round_to_int</CODE></TD>
 | |
| <TD><CODE>roundToInt</CODE></TD>
 | |
| <TD>round-to-integer functions (<NOBR>section 8.7</NOBR>)</TD>
 | |
| </TR>
 | |
| <TR>
 | |
| <TD><CODE>is_signaling_nan    </CODE></TD>
 | |
| <TD><CODE>isSignalingNaN</CODE></TD>
 | |
| <TD>signaling NaN test functions (<NOBR>section 8.9</NOBR>)</TD>
 | |
| </TR>
 | |
| </TABLE>
 | |
| </BLOCKQUOTE>
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <H3>9.2. Changes to Function Arguments</H3>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| Besides simple name changes, some operations were given a different interface
 | |
| in <NOBR>Release 3</NOBR> than they had in <NOBR>Release 2</NOBR>:
 | |
| <UL>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <LI>
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| Since <NOBR>Release 3</NOBR>, integer arguments and results of functions have
 | |
| standard types from header <CODE><stdint.h></CODE>, such as
 | |
| <CODE>uint32_t</CODE>, whereas previously their types could be defined
 | |
| differently for each port of SoftFloat, usually using traditional C types such
 | |
| as <CODE>unsigned</CODE> <CODE>int</CODE>.
 | |
| Likewise, functions in <NOBR>Release 3</NOBR> and later pass Booleans as
 | |
| standard type <CODE>bool</CODE> from <CODE><stdbool.h></CODE>, whereas
 | |
| previously these were again passed as a port-specific type (usually
 | |
| <CODE>int</CODE>).
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <LI>
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| As explained earlier in <NOBR>section 4.5</NOBR>, <I>Conventions for Passing
 | |
| Arguments and Results</I>, SoftFloat functions in <NOBR>Release 3</NOBR> and
 | |
| later may pass <NOBR>80-bit</NOBR> and <NOBR>128-bit</NOBR> floating-point
 | |
| values through pointers, meaning that functions take pointer arguments and then
 | |
| read or write floating-point values at the locations indicated by the pointers.
 | |
| In <NOBR>Release 2</NOBR>, floating-point arguments and results were always
 | |
| passed by value, regardless of their size.
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <LI>
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| Functions that round to an integer have additional
 | |
| <CODE><I>roundingMode</I></CODE> and <CODE><I>exact</I></CODE> arguments that
 | |
| they did not have in <NOBR>Release 2</NOBR>.
 | |
| Refer to sections 8.2 <NOBR>and 8.7</NOBR> for descriptions of these functions
 | |
| since <NOBR>Release 3</NOBR>.
 | |
| For <NOBR>Release 2</NOBR>, the rounding mode, when needed, was taken from the
 | |
| same global variable that affects the basic arithmetic operations (now called
 | |
| <CODE>softfloat_roundingMode</CODE> but previously known as
 | |
| <CODE>float_rounding_mode</CODE>).
 | |
| Also, for <NOBR>Release 2</NOBR>, if the original floating-point input was not
 | |
| an exact integer value, and if the <I>invalid</I> exception was not raised by
 | |
| the function, the <I>inexact</I> exception was always raised.
 | |
| <NOBR>Release 2</NOBR> had no option to suppress raising <I>inexact</I> in this
 | |
| case.
 | |
| Applications using SoftFloat <NOBR>Release 3</NOBR> or later can get the same
 | |
| effect as <NOBR>Release 2</NOBR> by passing variable
 | |
| <CODE>softfloat_roundingMode</CODE> for argument
 | |
| <CODE><I>roundingMode</I></CODE> and <CODE>true</CODE> for argument
 | |
| <CODE><I>exact</I></CODE>.
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| </UL>
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <H3>9.3. Added Capabilities</H3>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| With <NOBR>Release 3</NOBR>, some new features have been added that were not
 | |
| present in <NOBR>Release 2</NOBR>:
 | |
| <UL>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <LI>
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| A port of SoftFloat can now define any of the floating-point types
 | |
| <CODE>float32_t</CODE>, <CODE>float64_t</CODE>, <CODE>extFloat80_t</CODE>, and
 | |
| <CODE>float128_t</CODE> as aliases for C’s standard floating-point types
 | |
| <CODE>float</CODE>, <CODE>double</CODE>, and <CODE>long</CODE>
 | |
| <CODE>double</CODE>, using either <CODE>#define</CODE> or <CODE>typedef</CODE>.
 | |
| This potential convenience was not supported under <NOBR>Release 2</NOBR>.
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| (Note, however, that there may be a performance cost to defining
 | |
| SoftFloat’s floating-point types this way, depending on the platform and
 | |
| the applications using SoftFloat.
 | |
| Ports of SoftFloat may choose to forgo the convenience in favor of better
 | |
| speed.)
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| <LI>
 | |
| As of <NOBR>Release 3b</NOBR>, <NOBR>16-bit</NOBR> half-precision,
 | |
| <CODE>float16_t</CODE>, is supported.
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| <LI>
 | |
| Functions have been added for converting between the floating-point types and
 | |
| unsigned integers.
 | |
| <NOBR>Release 2</NOBR> supported only signed integers, not unsigned.
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| <LI>
 | |
| Fused multiply-add functions have been added for all floating-point formats
 | |
| except <NOBR>80-bit</NOBR> double-extended-precision,
 | |
| <CODE>extFloat80_t</CODE>.
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| <LI>
 | |
| New rounding modes are supported:
 | |
| <CODE>softfloat_round_near_maxMag</CODE> (round to nearest, with ties to
 | |
| maximum magnitude, away from zero), and, as of <NOBR>Release 3c</NOBR>,
 | |
| optional <CODE>softfloat_round_odd</CODE> (round to odd, also known as
 | |
| jamming).
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| </UL>
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <H3>9.4. Better Compatibility with the C Language</H3>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| <NOBR>Release 3</NOBR> of SoftFloat was written to conform better to the ISO C
 | |
| Standard’s rules for portability.
 | |
| For example, older releases of SoftFloat employed type conversions in ways
 | |
| that, while commonly practiced, are not fully defined by the C Standard.
 | |
| Such problematic type conversions have generally been replaced by the use of
 | |
| unions, the behavior around which is more strictly regulated these days.
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <H3>9.5. New Organization as a Library</H3>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| Starting with <NOBR>Release 3</NOBR>, SoftFloat now builds as a library.
 | |
| Previously, SoftFloat compiled into a single, monolithic object file containing
 | |
| all the SoftFloat functions, with the consequence that a program linking with
 | |
| SoftFloat would get every SoftFloat function in its binary file even if only a
 | |
| few functions were actually used.
 | |
| With SoftFloat in the form of a library, a program that is linked by a standard
 | |
| linker will include only those functions of SoftFloat that it needs and no
 | |
| others.
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <H3>9.6. Optimization Gains (and Losses)</H3>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| Individual SoftFloat functions have been variously improved in
 | |
| <NOBR>Release 3</NOBR> compared to earlier releases.
 | |
| In particular, better, faster algorithms have been deployed for the operations
 | |
| of division, square root, and remainder.
 | |
| For functions operating on the larger <NOBR>80-bit</NOBR> and
 | |
| <NOBR>128-bit</NOBR> formats, <CODE>extFloat80_t</CODE> and
 | |
| <CODE>float128_t</CODE>, code size has also generally been reduced.
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| However, because <NOBR>Release 2</NOBR> compiled all of SoftFloat together as a
 | |
| single object file, compilers could make optimizations across function calls
 | |
| when one SoftFloat function calls another.
 | |
| Now that the functions of SoftFloat are compiled separately and only afterward
 | |
| linked together into a program, there is not usually the same opportunity to
 | |
| optimize across function calls.
 | |
| Some loss of speed has been observed due to this change.
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| 
 | |
| <H2>10. Future Directions</H2>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| The following improvements are anticipated for future releases of SoftFloat:
 | |
| <UL>
 | |
| <LI>
 | |
| more functions from the 2008 version of the IEEE Floating-Point Standard;
 | |
| <LI>
 | |
| consistent, defined behavior for non-canonical representations of extended
 | |
| format <CODE>extFloat80_t</CODE> (discussed in <NOBR>section 4.4</NOBR>,
 | |
| <I>Non-canonical Representations in <CODE>extFloat80_t</CODE></I>).
 | |
| 
 | |
| </UL>
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
 | |
| 
 | |
| <H2>11. Contact Information</H2>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <P>
 | |
| At the time of this writing, the most up-to-date information about SoftFloat
 | |
| and the latest release can be found at the Web page
 | |
| <A HREF="http://www.jhauser.us/arithmetic/SoftFloat.html"><NOBR><CODE>http://www.jhauser.us/arithmetic/SoftFloat.html</CODE></NOBR></A>.
 | |
| </P>
 | |
| 
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| 
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| </BODY>
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| 
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