Before You Begin |
This manual describes the floating-point environment supported by software and hardware on SPARC® and x86 platforms running the Solaris operating environment. Although this manual discusses some general aspects of the SPARC and Intel architectures, it is primarily a reference manual designed to accompany Sun 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.
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.
Chapter 1 introduces the floating-point environment.
Chapter 2 describes the IEEE arithmetic model, IEEE formats, and underflow.
Chapter 3 describes the mathematics libraries provided with the Sun Studio compilers.
Chapter 4 describes exceptions and shows how to detect, locate, and handle them.
Appendix A contains example programs.
Appendix B describes the floating-point hardware options for SPARC workstations.
Appendix C lists x86 and SPARC compatibility issues related to the floating-point units used in Intel systems.
Appendix D is an edited reprint of a tutorial on floating-point arithmetic by David Goldberg.
Appendix E discusses standards compliance.
Appendix F 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 to either compiler on a SPARC or Intel system.
The "pipe" or "bar" symbol separates arguments, only one of which may be chosen. |
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The colon, like the comma, is sometimes used to separate arguments. |
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The compilers and tools and their man pages are not installed into the standard /usr/bin/ and /usr/share/man directories. To access the compilers and tools, you must have your PATH environment variable set correctly (see Accessing the Compilers and Tools). To access the man pages, you must have the your MANPATH environment variable set correctly (see Accessing the Man Pages.).
For more information about the PATH variable, see the csh(1), sh(1), and ksh(1) man pages. For more information about the MANPATH variable, see the man(1) man page. For more information about setting your PATH variable and MANPATH variables to access this release, see the installation guide or your system administrator.
Use the steps below to determine whether you need to change your PATH variable to access the compilers and tools.
1. Display the current value of the PATH variable by typing the following at a command prompt.
2. Review the output to find a string of paths that contain /opt/SUNWspro/bin/.
If you find the path, your PATH variable is already set to access the compilers and tools. If you do not find the path, set your PATH environment variable by following the instructions in the next procedure.
1. If you are using the C shell, edit your home .cshrc file. If you are using the Bourne shell or Korn shell, edit your home .profile file.
2. Add the following to your PATH environment variable. If you have Sun ONE Studio software or Forte Developer software installed, add the following path before the paths to those installations.
Use the following steps to determine whether you need to change your MANPATH variable to access the man pages.
1. Request the dbx man page by typing the following at a command prompt.
If the dbx(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 the next procedure for setting your MANPATH environment variable.
1. If you are using the C shell, edit your home .cshrc file. If you are using the Bourne shell or Korn shell, edit your home .profile file.
2. Add the following to your MANPATH environment variable.
The Sun Studio 9 integrated development environment (IDE) provides modules for creating, editing, building, debugging, and analyzing the performance of a C, C++, or Fortran application.
The IDE requires the Core Platform component of Sun Studio 9. You must set the SPRO_NETBEANS_HOME environment variable to the location where the Core Platform component is installed or mounted (installation_directory/netbeans/3.5R) if the Core Platform component is not installed or mounted to one of the following locations:
The command to start the IDE is sunstudio. For details on this command, see the sunstudio(1) man page.
You can access the documentation at the following locations:
If your software is not installed in the /opt directory, ask your system administrator for the equivalent path on your system.
The docs.sun.com web site (http://docs.sun.com) enables you to read, print, and buy Sun Microsystems manuals through the Internet. If you cannot find a manual, see the documentation index that is installed with the software on your local system or network.
The documentation is provided in accessible formats that are readable by assistive technologies for users with disabilities. You can find accessible versions of documentation as described in the following table. If your software is not installed in the /opt directory, ask your system administrator for the equivalent path on your system.
HTML at http://docs.sun.com |
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HTML in the installed software through the documentation index at file:/opt/SUNWspro/docs/index.html |
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HTML in the installed software through the documentation index at file:/opt/SUNWspro/docs/index.html |
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HTML at http://docs.sun.com |
The following table describes related documentation that is available through the docs.sun.com web site.
Visit http://developers.sun.com/prodtech/cc to find these frequently updated resources:
You can find additional resources for developers at http://developers.sun.com.
If you have technical questions about this product that are not answered in this document, go to:
http://www.sun.com/service/contacting
Sun is interested in improving its documentation and welcomes your comments and suggestions. Submit your comments to Sun at this URL
http://www.sun.com/hwdocs/feedback
Please include the part number (817-6702-10) of your document.
Copyright © 2004, Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved.