Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!mcvax!ukc!its63b!bct
From: bct@its63b.ed.ac.uk (B Tompsett)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: Transcendental functions and microcoded instructions
Message-ID: <654@its63b.ed.ac.uk>
Date: Wed, 30-Sep-87 07:54:20 EDT
Article-I.D.: its63b.654
Posted: Wed Sep 30 07:54:20 1987
Date-Received: Tue, 6-Oct-87 06:39:32 EDT
References: <581@l.cc.purdue.edu> <8646@utzoo.UUCP> <705@gumby.UUCP> <8@radix>
Reply-To: bct@ecsvax.ed.ac.uk (B Tompsett)
Organization: Dept. of Computer Science, Edinburgh University, U.K.
Lines: 20
Keywords: floating-point

In article <8@radix> jimv@radix.UUCP (Jim Valerio) writes:
>I am probably one of the few people who reads this newsgroup that has
>microcoded transcendental floating-point instructions. 

  The Computervision CDS 4000 has microcoded trancendental floating point
instructions. I was responsible for the Fortran compiler for this machine,
an it certainly helped with accuracy and performance to have these functions
in microcode. The microcoders had access to more machine facilities than I
would have had if I had to write them in a regular run-time library. For
example, intermediate computations could be performed to more precision than
the normally provided floating point operations allow.
  Brian.
-- 
--
> Brian Tompsett. Department of Computer Science, University of Edinburgh,
> JCMB, The King's Buildings, Mayfield Road, EDINBURGH, EH9 3JZ, Scotland, U.K.
> Telephone:         +44 31 667 1081 x3332.
> JANET:  bct@uk.ac.ed.ecsvax  ARPA: bct%ecsvax.ed.ac.uk@cs.ucl.ac.uk
> USENET: bct@ecsvax.ed.ac.uk  UUCP: ...!mcvax!ukc!ecsvax.ed.ac.uk!bct
> BITNET: psuvax1!ecsvax.ed.ac.uk!bct or bct%ecsvax.ed.ac.uk@earn.rl.ac.uk