Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!news.cs.indiana.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!m.cs.uiuc.edu!gillies
From: gillies@m.cs.uiuc.edu
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: New SparcStation
Message-ID: <3300233@m.cs.uiuc.edu>
Date: 17 Dec 90 07:48:00 GMT
References: <184127@<1990Dec13>
Lines: 14
Nf-ID: #R:<1990Dec13:184127:m.cs.uiuc.edu:3300233:000:689
Nf-From: m.cs.uiuc.edu!gillies    Dec 17 01:48:00 1990


I think it's a laugh that Sun quotes "28.5 mips".  That's 28 usable
mips for normal every-day jobs, and .5 mips for the background task
that emulates a vax/11-780 at half speed for pedagogical reasons.

Seriously, who cares about this extra .5 mips?  Why not 29 mips?  Why
not 28 mips?  BUT NOOOOOOO 28.5 mips.  Be precise.  After all a "MIPS"
is such a precise quantity anyway.

Sheesh.  This tells me Sun doesn't know anything about "significant
digits".  Am I going to buy a computer by a company that doesn't know
about "significant digits"?  How can I be sure the floating point will
work properly if the company displays blatant ignorance of this notion
in their advertising???!!!!!