RE: Specifying signs when f(0)=0

[Nick Maclaren <nmm1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

"David James" <dvj@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > > But it isn't actually hard to do - just complicated and confusing.
>
> Interesting.
> I suppose its only the simple & clear things that are hard? (:>)

Touche.  But, yes, that is often true.

At a hardware level, trapping and resumption is easy, if it is allowed
to be imprecise, because it is allowed to 'drain its pipeline' to a
clean state before taking the trap.

However, specifying when that happens is complicated, and using it in
software is confusing (because when it happens may make sense only in
hardware terms, not software ones).

It falls into the class of a known, implementable solution to a problem
that is a complete waste of time, because so few people are capable of
making effective use of it.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren,
University of Cambridge Computing Service,
New Museums Site, Pembroke Street, Cambridge CB2 3QH, England.
Email:  nmm1@xxxxxxxxx
Tel.:  +44 1223 334761    Fax:  +44 1223 334679