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From: davidsen@crdos1.crd.ge.COM (Wm E Davidsen Jr)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: Computers for users not programmers
Message-ID: <3194@crdos1.crd.ge.COM>
Date: 13 Feb 91 15:05:35 GMT
References: <3159:Feb1213:56:3091@kramden.acf.nyu.edu>
Reply-To: davidsen@crdos1.crd.ge.com (bill davidsen)
Organization: GE Corp R&D Center, Schenectady NY
Lines: 33

In article <3159:Feb1213:56:3091@kramden.acf.nyu.edu> brnstnd@kramden.acf.nyu.edu (Dan Bernstein) writes:

| Some people think that if Fortran and C don't support an operation, it's
| a waste to put the operation into new chips. 

  Making the assumption that (a) a vendor is selling into the
workstation market, and (b) that market is mostly C and FORTRAN, why
would it be a mistake to omit those features, accessible from assembler,
COBOL, and PL/I, and either use the chip space for something useful to
the majority of the users, or save the space and cut the cost of the
chip?

  I don't question that some applications need to do multiprecision
arithmentic, or that these features make it easier, but a vendor is not
out to develop an elegant chip which satisfies every need at the expense
of being competitive in price/performance.

  I've written packages like that on machines with the instructions you
mention, and it's very useful and quite fast. I've also done them in C
for machines which didn't have hardware support, and it's slow but
portable.

  While I regard those features as a plus, they don't count for much to
the average workstation user. Mainframe systems which expect high level
languages which can specify precision will of course provide them.

  Maybe some of the vendors will mention their feelings on why they do
or don't have this, or whiy they have it on some machines and not
others. Anyone want to comment? 
-- 
bill davidsen	(davidsen@crdos1.crd.GE.COM -or- uunet!crdgw1!crdos1!davidsen)
  "I'll come home in one of two ways, the big parade or in a body bag.
   I prefer the former but I'll take the latter" -Sgt Marco Rodrigez