Darren New wrote:
> 
> Analogies with other things that work that way, like a V-8 engine having
> twice the acceleration than a 4-banger.

Which is also poop ;).

-- 
Eero "Aero" Ahonen
   http://www.zbxt.net
      aer### [at] removethiszbxtnetinvalid

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Thomas de Groot <t.d### [at] internlnet> wrote:
> Well, just because I feel it is a waste of time for me.

  Information is never a waste of time.

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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Warp wrote:
> Thomas de Groot <t.d### [at] internlnet> wrote:
> 
>>Well, just because I feel it is a waste of time for me.
> 
> 
>   Information is never a waste of time.
> 

It also may be a waste of other resources, too.

-- 
Eero "Aero" Ahonen
   http://www.zbxt.net
      aer### [at] removethiszbxtnetinvalid

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"Warp" <war### [at] tagpovrayorg> schreef in bericht 
news:44d60ead@news.povray.org...
> Thomas de Groot <t.d### [at] internlnet> wrote:
>> Well, just because I feel it is a waste of time for me.
>
>  Information is never a waste of time.
>

True. I agree. But if you lack the knowledge to appreciate particular 
information, then it becomes random noise so to speak :-)

What I mean is that instead of spending (precious) time struggling through 
information I do not really understand, I prefer to concentrate upon what I 
need to do. Time is short...

Thomas

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Thomas de Groot <t.d### [at] internlnet> wrote:
> What I mean is that instead of spending (precious) time struggling through 
> information I do not really understand, I prefer to concentrate upon what I 
> need to do. Time is short...

  And then, when you don't have even the most basic information, you make
all kinds of wrong assumptions, mistakes and, in the worst case, a fool
of yourself.

  Basic information is never useless.

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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"Warp" <war### [at] tagpovrayorg> schreef in bericht 
news:44d725db@news.povray.org...
>
>  And then, when you don't have even the most basic information, you make
> all kinds of wrong assumptions, mistakes and, in the worst case, a fool
> of yourself.
>
>  Basic information is never useless.
>

That also is true. Except for the fool, as I believe that one should not 
peremptorily offer advice about things one does not know anything about. But 
asking questions or even making wrong assumptions is never foolish.

Still, I do not want to know how my car does what it does (I mean: 
transporting me from A to B and back again)... :-)

Thomas

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Warp nous apporta ses lumieres en ce 01/08/2006 17:31:
> Alain <ele### [at] netscapenet> wrote:
>> both 32 and 64 bits CPUs use 64 bits FPUs
> 
>   Actually Intel (and compatible) processors use 80-bit floating point
> numbers internally. I don't know why, but they just do.
> 
OK then. So, as long as your results STAY in the FPU and you keep on reusing 
them, you can keep an improved acuracy. But, as soon as you need to put your 
results anywhere else, you fall back to 64 bits acuracy. Would be good if you 
could preserve those extra 16 bits. This would open up double and half precision 
FP numbers.

-- 
Alain
-------------------------------------------------
SHOPPING MATH
A man will pay $20 for a $10 item he needs.
A woman will pay $10 for a $20 item that she doesn't need.

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Tim Cook nous apporta ses lumieres en ce 02/08/2006 00:49:
> So what's all the hubbub over 32-bit processors?  Aren't they slower 
> than 16-bit CPUs in exactly the same way as 64s are to 32s?  It just 
> take longer to assign anything and nothing needs the precision other 
> than some specialized applications.  Besides, nobody needs more than 640 
> kB of RAM...
> 
> *wink*
> 
The early 32 bit processors where indead a bit slower than contemporary 16 bit 
ones. Also, early 32 bit programms where almost always slower than 16 bit 
versions when running on the same 32 bit processor. It's worth noting that 
almost all 16 bit processors had at least 20 bit address bus, up to maybe 32 for 
the latest. Also, ALL 8 bit CPU had 16 bit address path before the 8086 (20 bit 
address space).

-- 
Alain
-------------------------------------------------
You can go anywhere you want if you look serious and carry a clipboard.

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Alain <ele### [at] netscapenet> wrote:
> OK then. So, as long as your results STAY in the FPU and you keep on reusing 
> them, you can keep an improved acuracy. But, as soon as you need to put your 
> results anywhere else, you fall back to 64 bits acuracy.

  Not really. You can store the numbers in memory using the 80-bit
accuracy. In C/C++ you can usually do that with the 'long double' type.

  I don't know, however, if there's a speed penalty in storing/reading
memory in units larger than 64 bits...

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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Warp nous apporta ses lumieres en ce 08/08/2006 05:46:
> Alain <ele### [at] netscapenet> wrote:
>> OK then. So, as long as your results STAY in the FPU and you keep on reusing 
>> them, you can keep an improved acuracy. But, as soon as you need to put your 
>> results anywhere else, you fall back to 64 bits acuracy.
> 
>   Not really. You can store the numbers in memory using the 80-bit
> accuracy. In C/C++ you can usually do that with the 'long double' type.
> 
>   I don't know, however, if there's a speed penalty in storing/reading
> memory in units larger than 64 bits...
> 
Probably, one more write/read operation. You also have word alignment concerns, 
the extra 16 bits = 1/2 word, 1/4 word on 64 bit platform.
How long before we get quad, 128 bit, precision FPU?

-- 
Alain
-------------------------------------------------
Fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity.
  - The Bayou, Baton Rouge , LO

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