From:	Gary R Sekinger <sekinger+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Newsgroups:	comp.os.msdos.djgpp
Subject:	Re: floating point/numeric question
Date:	Thu, 19 Dec 1996 18:18:34 -0500
Organization:	Masters student, Software Engineering, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Lines:	28
Message-ID:	<UmiQp_600iWm08B340@andrew.cmu.edu>
References:	<01ICWAM1K0POAR29Q9 AT mail>
NNTP-Posting-Host:	andrew.cmu.edu
In-Reply-To:	<01ICWAM1K0POAR29Q9@mail>
To:	djgpp AT delorie DOT com
DJ-Gateway:	from newsgroup comp.os.msdos.djgpp

Excerpts from mail: 11-Dec-96 Re: floating point/numeric .. by H.
Broeker AT physik DOT rwth-a 
> yIn article <kmfQlfO00iWn0B9GU0 AT andrew DOT cmu DOT edu> you wrote:
>  
> > I plan to write an app and target Unix, dos, and VMS platforms (which is
> > why I picked gcc). The app will produce data based on statistical
> > distributions, so the calculations need to be consistent on all the
> > platforms (but not necessarily accurate :). I've read the floating point
> > portion of the FAQ but still have a question: Does djgpp gcc handle
> > internal calculations and data representations the same as the other
> > distributions of gcc?
>  
> Obviously not, because there is no such thing as 'the way gcc handles
> internal calculations', really. That's completely hardware dependant.
> Once you start using floating point numbers, you're subject to design
> decisions of the people who made the floating point unit in that
> machine, like the famous 'Cray style': "who cares if multiplying by an
> exact (!) 1.0 changes the two (!) least significant bits?".
>  
> I may have misunderstood, but you seem to be on an impossible mission
> here.
>  
> HBB

Thanks for the insight, I think I'm doomed. I kinda thought DJGPP
provided some level of platform independence and provided "source code
compatibility" with its Unix counterparts. BTW, do you know how java
solves this issue? 

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