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From: ForthNet@willett.pgh.pa.us (ForthNet articles from GEnie)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.forth
Subject: ANS TC Magnet for Division
Message-ID: <2794.UUL1.3#5129@willett.pgh.pa.us>
Date: 20 May 91 01:38:12 GMT
Organization: (n.) to be organized.  But that's not important right now.
Lines: 43


 Date: 05-17-91 (08:26)              Number: 2196 of 2196 (Echo)
   To: R.BERKEY [ROBERT]             Refer#: 2194
 From: JACK WOEHR                      Read: NO
 Subj: DIVISION                      Status: PUBLIC MESSAGE
 Conf: FORTH (58)                 Read Type: GENERAL (+)

 -> Intel with their 8088/8086 and Motorola with their 68000 have each
 -> demonstrated the complexities.  Intel's difficulties in implementing
 -> -32768 as a dividend have been reported in Forth dimensions as well
 -> as are recorded in the Intel 80286 Programmer's Reference Manual.
 -> Motorola's signed opcode is sufficiently inefficient that an ordinary
 -> implementation of floored division based on unsigned division will
 -> divide positive numbers such as 8 by 3 more efficiently than will the
 -> Motorola signed opcode (1 to 2% difference).

         Bob, for years you and I have been talking about division, by
 phone, telecom and face-to-face. I agree with your research and in
 general with your conclusions. As a matter of fact, though I have used
 floored division for years (indexing round and round through short
 arrays is a good example of the benefits of neg-infinity floored
 division), I never really *understood* integer division until you
 explained it to me.

         I just wish with 20/20 hindsight that you had confined your
 agenda to this critical point rather than widened the front to an
 all-out assault on X3J14. If you and I had kept focussed, we might have
 been able to change more things in BASIS.

         As it is, by keeping focussed on what is important to me and to
 Vesta Technology, I have had the satisfaction of seeing many very
 progressive adaptations of the BASIS as regards small-memory, mixed
 RAM/ROM systems.

                 =jax=

 NET/Mail : RCFB Golden, CO (303) 278-0364 VESTA & Denver FIG for Forth!
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