FREE

[Harish P. Hiriyannaiah]

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

In article <2263 at milton.acs.washington.edu>,
khan at milton.acs.washington.edu (I Wish) writes:
> 
> (As an aside, does a VAX, with floating-point descriptors or whatever
>  it uses, treat zero-bytes as float 0.0?)
> -- 

> Erik Seaberg (khan at milton.u.washington.edu)


Yes it does, both in 32-bit and 64-bit f.p. formats. The same is true (I think)
for IEEE f.p. formats. (See the Intel 860 programmers handbook for the
exact encoding. I have the book at home........ I will check on it and
post a correction if I am wrong ).

As an aside, what do netters feel about DEC's 64-bit format for floats vs the
IEEE one ? I contend that the DEC format is superior, even though it lacks the
extra exponent-range of the IEEE format. So whadd'yall think ?


harish pu. hi.			harish at ecebucolix.ncsu.edu