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Re: Motion P1788/M0013.04 - Comparisons - Overflow / Infinity



Ian McIntosh wrote:
IM>> If Interval Arithmetic was based on IEEE 754 with Overflow added, some of the operations would be simplified because they would not have to handle special cases.

RBK> As it stands now, we wouldn't base things STRICTLY on 754, since motion 3 passed, and since 754 treats RBK> Infinity as a number. Since motion 3 states that we are only dealing with reals, we would be interpreting
RBK> the symbol Infinity the same as overflow, n'est pas?

Of course you're right about the standard and the decisions that have been made.


I look at things like this from the implementer's point of view, and from my personal assumption that the only implementations for five to ten years will be software without custom hardware, and that any hardware will be incrementally different from now, not entirely redesigned.


I would not bet on that. We are playing with "new" computers that you can sew in your clothes, even wash. Individually they are similar (for now..) to your laptop but there may be hundred of them around you, thus offering a large amount of calculation power. Shall we mention any item about parallel computation in the standard without being too specific to avoid to be too hardware specific ?

JPM