Re: Infinity (to the nearest integer)
"Karp, Alan H" <[email protected]>
| Newsgroups | gmane.comp.lang.e.general |
|---|---|
| Message-ID | <A0BE9926384D0940BBAD4B60190CB29A7181FB39BC@GVW0433EXB.americas.hpqcorp.net> |
Kevin Reid wrote: > >> > >> Suppose we do want to produce NaN. Why do we need integer NaNs > >> distinct from float NaNs? > >> > > Because every bit pattern in an integer register is a valid fixed > > point number, which leaves no way to denote NaN. > > You've just argued *against* having an integer-NaN value, it seems to > me. > > I didn't ask "can we have an integer NaN". I asked "given that an > integer operation is going to return NaN, should it be distinct from > the float NaN?" > Aah. You're talking language level. I was talking about machine instructions where the only place to store a result is in the target register specified in the instruction. ________________________ Alan Karp Principal Scientist Virus Safe Computing Initiative Hewlett-Packard Laboratories 1501 Page Mill Road Palo Alto, CA 94304 (650) 857-3967, fax (650) 857-7029 http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Alan_Karp