Numerical Computation Guide |
Preface
Purpose
This manual describes the floating-point environment supported by software and hardware on SPARCTM and x86 platforms running the Solaris operating system. Although this manual discusses some general aspects of the SPARC and Intel architectures, it is primarily a reference manual designed to accompany SunTM language products.
Certain aspects of the IEEE Standard for Binary Floating-Point Arithmetic are discussed in this manual. To learn about IEEE arithmetic, see the 18-page Standard. See Appendix F for a brief bibliography on IEEE arithmetic.
Who Should Use This Book
This manual is written for those who develop, maintain, and port mathematical and scientific applications or benchmarks. Before using this manual, you should be familiar with the programming language used (Fortran, C, etc.),
dbx
(the source-level debugger), and the operating system commands and concepts.How This Book Is Organized
Chapter 1, "Introduction," introduces the floating-point environment.
Chapter 2, "IEEE Arithmetic," describes the IEEE arithmetic model, IEEE formats, and underflow.
Chapter 3, "The Math Libraries," describes the mathematics libraries provided with Sun WorkShop Compilers 6.
Chapter 4, "Exceptions and Exception Handling," describes exceptions and shows how to detect, locate, and handle them.
Appendix A, "Examples," contains example programs.
Appendix B, "SPARC Behavior and Implementation," describes the floating-point hardware options for SPARC workstations.
Appendix C, "x86 Behavior and Implementation,"," lists x86 and SPARC compatibility issues related to the floating-point units used in Intel systems.
Appendix D, "What Every Computer Scientist Should Know About Floating-Point Arithmetic," is an edited reprint of a tutorial on floating-point arithmetic by David Goldberg.
Appendix E, "Standards Compliance," discusses standards compliance.
Appendix F, "References," includes a list of references and related documentation.
Glossary contains a definition of terms.
The examples in this manual are in C and Fortran, but the concepts apply for either compiler on a SPARC or Intel system.
Multiplatform Release
This Sun WorkShop release supports versions 2.6, 7, and 8 of the SolarisTM SPARCTM Platform Edition and Solaris Intel Platform Edition Operating Environments.
Note The term "x86" refers to the Intel 8086 family of microprocessor chips, including the Pentium, Pentium Pro, and Pentium II processors and compatible microprocessor chips made by AMD and Cyrix. In this document, the term "x86" refers to the overall platform architecture, whereas "Intel Platform Edition" appears in the product name.
Access to Sun WorkShop Development Tools
Because Sun WorkShop product components and man pages do not install into the standard
/usr/bin/
and/usr/share/man
directories, you must change yourPATH
andMANPATH
environment variables to enable access to Sun WorkShop compilers and tools.To determine if you need to set your
PATH
environment variable:1. Display the current value of thePATH
variable by typing:
%
echo $PATH
2. Review the output for a string of paths containing/opt/SUNWspro/bin/
.
- If you find the paths, your
PATH
variable is already set to access Sun WorkShop development tools. If you do not find the paths, set yourPATH
environment variable by following the instructions in this section.To determine if you need to set your
MANPATH
environment variable:1. Request theworkshop
man page by typing:
%
man workshop
2. Review the output, if any.
- If the
workshop
(1) man page cannot be found or if the man page displayed is not for the current version of the software installed, follow the instructions in this section for setting yourMANPATH
environment variable.
Note The information in this section assumes that your Sun WorkShop 6 products were installed in the/opt
directory. Contact your system administrator if your Sun WorkShop software is not installed in/opt
.
The
PATH
andMANPATH
variables should be set in your home.cshrc
file if you are using the C shell or in your home.profile
file if you are using the Bourne or Korn shells:
- To use Sun WorkShop commands, add the following to your
PATH
variable:
/opt/SUNWspro/bin
- To access Sun WorkShop man pages with the
man
command, add the following to yourMANPATH
variable:
/opt/SUNWspro/man
For more information about the
PATH
variable, see thecsh
(1),sh
(1), andksh
(1) man pages. For more information about theMANPATH
variable, see theman
(1) man page. For more information about setting yourPATH
andMANPATH
variables to access this release, see the Sun WorkShop 6 Installation Guide or your system administrator.Typographic Conventions
TABLE P-1
shows the typographic conventions that are used in Sun WorkShop documentation.
Shell Prompts
TABLE P-2 shows the default system prompt and superuser prompt for the C shell, Bourne shell, and Korn shell.
TABLE P-2 Shell Prompts C shell %
Bourne shell and Korn shell $
C shell, Bourne shell, and Korn shell superuser #
Related Documentation
You can access documentation related to the subject matter of this book in the following ways:
- Through the Internet at the
docs.sun.com
sm Web site. You can search for a specific book title or you can browse by subject, document collection, or product at the following Web site:
http://docs.sun.com
- Through the installed Sun WorkShop products on your local system or network. Sun WorkShop 6 HTML documents (manuals, online help, man pages, component readme files, and release notes) are available with your installed Sun WorkShop 6 products. To access the HTML documentation, do one of the following:
- In any Sun WorkShop or Sun WorkShopTM TeamWare window, choose Help About Documentation.
- In your NetscapeTM Communicator 4.0 or compatible version browser, open the following file:
- (Contact your system administrator if your Sun WorkShop software is not installed in the
/opt
directory.) Your browser displays an index of Sun WorkShop 6 HTML documents. To open a document in the index, click the document's title.TABLE P-3 lists related Sun WorkShop 6 manuals by document collection.
TABLE P-4 describes related Solaris documentation available through the
docs.sun.com
Web site.
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