
SoftFloat Release 2 General Documentation

John R. Hauser
1997 June 2


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Introduction

SoftFloat is a software implementation of floating-point that conforms to
the IEC/IEEE Standard for Binary Floating-point Arithmetic.  As many as four
formats are supported:  single precision, double precision, extended double
precision, and quadruple precision.  All operations required by the standard
are implemented, except for conversions to and from decimal.

This document gives information about the types defined and the routines
implemented by SoftFloat.  It does not attempt to define or explain the
IEC/IEEE Floating-Point Standard.  Details about the standard are available
elsewhere.


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Limitations

SoftFloat is written in C and is designed to work with other C code.  The
SoftFloat header files assume an ISO/ANSI-style C compiler.  No attempt
has been made to accomodate compilers that are not ISO-conformant.  In
particular, the distributed header files will not be acceptable to any
compiler that does not recognize function prototypes.

Support for the extended double-precision and quadruple-precision formats
depends on a C compiler that implements 64-bit integer arithmetic.  If the
largest integer format supported by the C compiler is 32 bits, SoftFloat is
limited to only single and double precisions.  When that is the case, all
references to extended double precision or quadruple precision in this
document should be ignored.


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Contents

    Introduction
    Limitations
    Contents
    Legal Notice
    Types and Functions
    Rounding Modes
    Extended Double-Precision Rounding Precision
    Exceptions and Exception Flags
    Function Details
        Conversion Functions
        Standard Arithmetic Functions
        Remainder Functions
        Round-to-Integer Functions
        Comparison Functions
        Signaling NaN Test Functions
        Raise-Exception Function
    Expected Improvements in a Future Release
    Contact Information



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Legal Notice

SoftFloat was written by John R. Hauser.  This work was made possible in
part by the International Computer Science Institute, located at Suite 600,
1947 Center Street, Berkeley, California 94704.  Funding was partially
provided by the National Science Foundation under grant MIP-9311980.  The
original version of this code was written as part of a project to build
a fixed-point vector processor in collaboration with the University of
California at Berkeley, overseen by Profs. Nelson Morgan and John Wawrzynek.

THIS SOFTWARE IS DISTRIBUTED AS IS, FOR FREE.  Although reasonable effort
has been made to avoid it, THIS SOFTWARE MAY CONTAIN FAULTS THAT WILL AT
TIMES RESULT IN INCORRECT BEHAVIOR.  USE OF THIS SOFTWARE IS RESTRICTED TO
PERSONS AND ORGANIZATIONS WHO CAN AND WILL TAKE FULL RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY
AND ALL LOSSES, COSTS, OR OTHER PROBLEMS ARISING FROM ITS USE.


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Types and Functions

When 64-bit integers are supported by the compiler, the `softfloat.h' header
file defines four types:  `float32' (single precision), `float64' (double
precision), `floatx80' (extended double precision), and `float128'
(quadruple precision).  The `float32' and `float64' types are defined in
terms of 32-bit and 64-bit integer types, respectively, while the `float128'
type is defined as a structure of two 64-bit integers, taking into account
the byte order of the particular machine being used.  The `floatx80' type is
defined as a structure containing one 16-bit and one 64-bit integer, with
the machine's byte order again determining the order of the `high' and `low'
fields.

When 64-bit integers are _not_ supported by the compiler, the `softfloat.h'
header file defines only two types:  `float32' and `float64'.  Because
ISO/ANSI C guarantees at least one built-in integer type of 32 bits,
the `float32' type is identified with an appropriate integer type.  The
`float64' type is defined as a structure of two 32-bit integers, with the
machine's byte order determining the order of the fields.

In either case, the types in `softfloat.h' are defined such that if a system
implements the usual C `float' and `double' types according to the IEC/IEEE
Standard, then the `float32' and `float64' types should be indistinguishable
in memory from the native `float' and `double' types.  (Note, however, that
when `float32' or `float64' values are placed in processor registers by the
compiler, the specific registers used may differ from those used for the
native `float' and `double' types.)

SoftFloat implements the following arithmetic operations:

-- Conversions among all the floating-point formats, and also between 32-bit
   integers and any of the floating-point formats.

-- The usual add, subtract, multiply, divide, and square root operations
   for all floating-point formats.

-- For each format, the floating-point remainder operation defined by the
   IEC/IEEE Standard.

-- For each floating-point format, a ``round to integer'' operation that
   rounds to the nearest integer value in the same format.  (The floating-
   point formats can hold integer values, of course.)

-- Comparisons between two values in the same floating-point format.

The only functions required by the IEC/IEEE Standard that are not provided
are conversions to and from decimal.


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Rounding Modes

All four rounding modes prescribed by the IEC/IEEE Standard are implemented
for all operations that require rounding.  The rounding mode is selected
by the global variable `float_rounding_mode'.  This variable may be set
to one of the values `float_round_nearest_even', `float_round_to_zero',
`float_round_down', or `float_round_up'.  The rounding mode is initialized
to nearest/even.


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Extended Double-Precision Rounding Precision

For extended double precision (`floatx80') only, the rounding precision of
the standard arithmetic operations is controlled by the global variable
`floatx80_rounding_precision'.  The operations affected are:

   floatx80_add   floatx80_sub   floatx80_mul   floatx80_div   floatx80_sqrt

When `floatx80_rounding_precision' is set to its default value of 80, these
operations are rounded (as usual) to the full precision of the extended
double-precision format.  Setting `floatx80_rounding_precision' to 32 or
to 64 causes the operations listed to be rounded to reduced precision
equivalent to single precision (`float32') or to double precision
(`float64'), respectively.  When rounding to reduced precision, additional
bits in the result significand beyond the rounding point are set to zero.
The consequences of setting `floatx80_rounding_precision' to a value other
than 32, 64, or 80 is not specified.  Operations other than the ones listed
above are not affected by `floatx80_rounding_precision'.


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Exceptions and Exception Flags

All five exception flags required by the IEC/IEEE Standard are
implemented.  Each flag is stored as a unique bit in the global variable
`float_exception_flags'.  The positions of the exception flag bits within
this variable are determined by the bit masks `float_flag_inexact',
`float_flag_underflow', `float_flag_overflow', `float_flag_divbyzero', and
`float_flag_invalid'.  The exception flags variable is initialized to all 0,
meaning no exceptions.

An individual exception flag can be cleared with the statement

    float_exception_flags &= ~ float_flag_<exception>;

where `<exception>' is the appropriate name.  To raise a floating-point
exception, the SoftFloat function `float_raise' should be used (see below).

In the terminology of the IEC/IEEE Standard, SoftFloat can detect tininess
for underflow either before or after rounding.  The choice is made by
the global variable `float_detect_tininess', which can be set to either
`float_tininess_before_rounding' or `float_tininess_after_rounding'.
Detecting tininess after rounding is better because it results in fewer
spurious underflow signals.  The other option is provided for compatibility
with some systems.  Like most systems, SoftFloat always detects loss of
accuracy for underflow as an inexact result.


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Function Details

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Conversion Functions

All conversions among the floating-point formats, and all conversions
between a floating-point format and 32-bit signed integers, are supported.
The complete set of conversion functions is:

   int32_to_float32      float32_to_int32
   int32_to_float64      float32_to_int32
   int32_to_floatx80     floatx80_to_int32
   int32_to_float128     float128_to_int32

   float32_to_float64    float32_to_floatx80   float32_to_float128
   float64_to_float32    float64_to_floatx80   float64_to_float128
   floatx80_to_float32   floatx80_to_float64   floatx80_to_float128
   float128_to_float32   float128_to_float64   float128_to_floatx80

Each conversion function takes one operand of the appropriate type and
returns one result.  Conversions from a smaller to a larger floating-point
format are always exact and so require no rounding.  Conversions from
integer to double precision and to all larger floating-point formats are
also exact.

Conversions from floating-point to integer raise the invalid exception
if the source value cannot be rounded to a representable 32-bit integer.
If the floating-point operand is a NaN, the largest positive integer is
returned.  Otherwise, if the conversion overflows, the largest integer with
the same sign as the operand is returned.

On conversions to integer, if the floating-point operand is not already an
integer value, the operand is rounded according to the current rounding
mode as specified by `float_rounding_mode'.  Because C (and perhaps other
languages) require that conversions to integers be rounded toward zero, the
following functions are provided for improved speed and convenience:

   float32_to_int32_round_to_zero
   float64_to_int32_round_to_zero
   floatx80_to_int32_round_to_zero
   float128_to_int32_round_to_zero

These variant functions ignore `float_rounding_mode' and always round toward
zero.

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Standard Arithmetic Functions

The following standard arithmetic functions are provided:

   float32_add    float32_sub    float32_mul    float32_div    float32_sqrt
   float64_add    float64_sub    float64_mul    float64_div    float64_sqrt
   floatx80_add   floatx80_sub   floatx80_mul   floatx80_div   floatx80_sqrt
   float128_add   float128_sub   float128_mul   float128_div   float128_sqrt

Each function takes two operands, except for `sqrt' which take only one.
The operands and result are all of the same type.

Rounding of the extended double-precision (`floatx80') functions is affected
by the `floatx80_rounding_precision' variable, as detailed above in the
section _Extended_Double-Precision_Rounding_Precision_.

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Remainder Functions

For each format, SoftFloat implements the remainder function according to
the IEC/IEEE Standard.  The remainder functions are:

   float32_rem
   float64_rem
   floatx80_rem
   float128_rem

Each remainder function takes two operands.  The operands and result are all
of the same type.  Given operands x and y, the remainder functions return
the value x - n*y, where n is the integer closest to x/y.  If x/y is exactly
halfway between two integers, n is the even integer closest to x/y.  The
remainder functions are always exact and so require no rounding.

Depending on the relative magnitudes of the operands, the remainder
functions can take considerably longer to execute than the other SoftFloat
functions.  This is inherent in the remainder operation itself, and is not a
flaw in the SoftFloat implementation.

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Round-to-Integer Functions

For each format, SoftFloat implements the round-to-integer function
specified by the IEC/IEEE Standard.  The functions are:

   float32_round_to_int
   float64_round_to_int
   floatx80_round_to_int
   float128_round_to_int

Each function takes a single floating-point operand and returns a result of
the same type.  (Note that the result is not an integer type.)  The operand
is rounded to an exact integer according to the current rounding mode, and
the resulting integer value is returned in the same floating-point format.

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Comparison Functions

The following floating-point comparison functions are provided:

   float32_eq    float32_le    float32_lt
   float64_eq    float64_le    float64_lt
   floatx80_eq   floatx80_le   floatx80_lt
   float128_eq   float128_le   float128_lt

Each function takes two operands of the same type and returns a 1 or 0
representing either _true_ or _false_.  The abbreviation `eq' stands for
``equal'' (=); `le' stands for ``less than or equal'' (<=); and `lt' stands
for ``less than'' (<).

The standard greater-than (>), greater-than-or-equal (>=), and not-equal
(!=) functions are easily obtained using the functions provided.  The
not-equal function is just the logical complement of the equal function.
The greater-than-or-equal function is identical to the less-than-or-equal
function with the operands reversed; and the greater-than function can be
obtained from the less-than function in the same way.

The IEC/IEEE Standard specifies that the less-than-or-equal and less-than
functions raise the invalid exception if either input is any kind of NaN.
The equal functions, on the other hand, are defined not to raise the invalid
exception on quiet NaNs.  For completeness, SoftFloat provides the following
additional functions:

   float32_eq_signaling    float32_le_quiet    float32_lt_quiet
   float64_eq_signaling    float64_le_quiet    float64_lt_quiet
   floatx80_eq_signaling   floatx80_le_quiet   floatx80_lt_quiet
   float128_eq_signaling   float128_le_quiet   float128_lt_quiet

The `signaling' equal functions are identical to the standard functions
except that the invalid exception is raised for any NaN input.  Likewise,
the `quiet' comparison functions are identical to their counterparts except
that the invalid exception is not raised for quiet NaNs.

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Signaling NaN Test Functions

The following functions test whether a floating-point value is a signaling
NaN:

   float32_is_signaling_nan
   float64_is_signaling_nan
   floatx80_is_signaling_nan
   float128_is_signaling_nan

The functions take one operand and return 1 if the operand is a signaling
NaN and 0 otherwise.

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Raise-Exception Function

SoftFloat provides a function for raising floating-point exceptions:

    float_raise

The function takes a mask indicating the set of exceptions to raise.  No
result is returned.  In addition to setting the specified exception flags,
this function may cause a trap or abort appropriate for the current system.

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Expected Improvements in a Future Release

SoftFloat currently does not provide functions for converting to and from
64-bit integers.  These will likely be added in an upcoming minor release.


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Contact Information

At the time of this writing, the most up-to-date information about
SoftFloat and the latest release can be found at the Web page `http://
HTTP.CS.Berkeley.EDU/~jhauser/arithmetic/softfloat.html'.


