Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!bloom-beacon!bu-cs!purdue!decwrl!sun!pitstop!sundc!seismo!uunet!portal!cup.portal.com!PLS
From: PLS@cup.portal.com (Paul L Schauble)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: MIPS supports 80- & 128-bit floats.
Message-ID: <13142@cup.portal.com>
Date: 3 Jan 89 00:55:40 GMT
References: <10452@obiwan.mips.COM> <325@loligo.fsu.edu>
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
Lines: 31

mccalpin@masig1.ocean.fsu.edu writes:


>There is some hesitancy in the supercomputer community to switch to the
>IEEE format because the exponent range of 64-bit numbers is so much
>smaller than the range currently provided by Cray and CDC/ETA formats.
>The IEEE 64-bit allows a range of about 1.0e-308 to 1.0e+308, while the
>Cray and CDC/ETA machines allow a range of about 1.0e-4000 to 1.0e+4000.

Now that's a curious answer. A few weeks ago I asked this group about the 
usage of the IEEE standard. 
According to the response, there hasn't been a new design in several years
that used anything else. The previous comment seems to contradict that
answer.

My searches did turn up several variations on the IEEE standard, usually in
exponent length. One common system provided
  - 32 bit real with 8 bit exponent, range 10**38
  - 64 bit real with 11 bit exponent, range 10**308
  - 128 bit real with 16 bit exponent, range 10**4000

I am left with several questions.

  Is the IEEE standard really the thing to use in a new design? If not, what
is?

  Is the IEEE standard widely used in Europe? Does it have official standing?

  Where can I get a copy??

  ++PLS