Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!seismo!sundc!pitstop!sun!amdcad!ames!umd5!mimsy!chris
From: chris@mimsy.UUCP (Chris Torek)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: single vs double float
Message-ID: <10420@mimsy.UUCP>
Date: 1 Feb 88 20:14:24 GMT
References: <235@unicom.UUCP> <28200089@ccvaxa> <3127@phri.UUCP> <408@micropen>
Organization: U of Maryland, Dept. of Computer Science, Coll. Pk., MD 20742
Lines: 16

In article <408@micropen> dave@micropen (David F. Carlson) writes:
>It is the case (K&R p184) that "All floating arithmetic in C is carried
>out in double-precision;" regardless whether declared as single precision
>or not.

Note, however, that at least two `well-known' C compilers, namely
those in SunOS (>= 3.0 at least) and 4.3BSD, have options to do
floating arithmetic in single precision if all operands are single
precision.  Use `cc -fsingle' (SunOS) or `cc -f' to trigger this.
Moreover, the current X3J11 draft C standard permits this behaviour.

(Personally, I think new architectures should make single precision
64 bits and double precision 128 bits....)
-- 
In-Real-Life: Chris Torek, Univ of MD Comp Sci Dept (+1 301 454 7163)
Domain:	chris@mimsy.umd.edu	Path:	uunet!mimsy!chris