🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <5307@amdahl.UUCP>, sjl@amdahl.UUCP (Steve Langdon) writes:
> 
> However, others
> in the group had to worry about *very* fast floating point.  While they saw
> the appeal of many features of the IEEE standard, it is very difficult to
> support in a high end machine.

Scenario: Someone (mis)designs a jetliner using `very fast' floating
point because it does not correctly handle an arithmetic condition
which would be correctly handled by an IEEE conforming system.
The liner crashes because of the defect and 300 people are killed.

Consequences: The computer company is bankrupted by the judgments
against it and the engineers who ignored existing standards of
professional practice never work again (even after they get out
of jail).

Thos Sumner       (thos@cca.ucsf.edu)
(The I.G.)        (...ucbvax!ucsfcgl!cca.ucsf!thos)

When ideas fail, words come in very handy. -- Goethe (via L. Creighton)
When ideas fail, computations come in very handy. -- Sumner (via USENET)

#include <disclaimer.std>