Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!dev!alxfac!jkrueger
From: jkrueger@alxfac.UUCP (Jon Krueger)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: Extremely Fast Filesystems
Keywords: addressing,fractions,floating-point,caches
Message-ID: <1042@alxfac.UUCP>
Date: 11 Aug 90 01:16:36 GMT
References: <5539@darkstar.ucsc.edu> <13285@yunexus.YorkU.CA> <30728@super.ORG> <13667@cbmvax.commodore.com> <13578@yunexus.YorkU.CA> <dczq02zP01Hc01@JUTS.ccc.amdahl.com> <10641@celit.fps.com>
Organization: Control Data Corp., Alexandria, VA
Lines: 17

dave@fps.com (Dave Smith) writes:

>In article <dczq02zP01Hc01@JUTS.ccc.amdahl.com> rbw00@JUTS.ccc.amdahl.com (  213  Richard Wilmot) writes:
>>I still think it is time to stop trying to use integers for addressing.
>>They always break down and probably always will. Many computers today have
>>floating point units. I would like to see floating point used for addressing.

>This won't work.  There are only so many distinct numbers representable by
>floating point.

Richard implied the usual exponent and mantissa
representation of floats.  One might use two bignums instead.
Their ratio represents all rational numbers exactly: arbitrary
precision, no overflow, no underflow, no loss of precision.
High cost?  TANSTAAFL.  Consider associative arrays.

-- Jon