Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jarthur!bridge2!mips!lloyd!cprice
From: cprice@mips.COM (Charlie Price)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: 80-bit IEEE FP
Summary: bozo
Message-ID: <45784@mips.mips.COM>
Date: 11 Feb 91 19:25:07 GMT
Sender: news@mips.COM
Reply-To: cprice@mips.COM (Charlie Price)
Organization: MIPS Computer Systems, Inc
Lines: 20

Read articles from exotic places!
Post assertions!

Netnews.  It's not just news, it's an education!

For those few pople who didn't know better already:

LOTS of software systems store, or can store, 80 bits for IEEE FP numbers.
In fact, if one thinks about it for more than a moment,
you have to do that to make 80-bit computation meaningful.

I have apparently only ever used deficient compilers when I've
used machines with 80-bit FPUs -- but it left a lasting impression
because mixing 80-bit precision registers with 64-bit memory
representations caused me a lot of trouble.

Sorry about misleading anybody, and thanks to the people who sent me notes.
-- 
Charlie Price    cprice@mips.mips.com        (408) 720-1700
MIPS Computer Systems / 928 Arques Ave. / Sunnyvale, CA   94086-23650