Implement the "unum" representation in D ?

[John Colvin]

On Thursday, 20 February 2014 at 10:10:13 UTC, Nick B wrote:
>
> Hi everyone.
>
> I'm attend the SKA conference in Auckland next week and I would 
> like to discuss a opportunity for the D community.
>
> I am based in Wellington, New Zealand.  In Auckland, NZ, from 
> Tuesday to Friday next week there will be two seminars held.
>
> The first 2 days (Tuesday and Wednesday) are for the multicore 
> conference. Details are   http://www.multicoreworld.com/
>
> Here is the schedule for 2 days (thursday & friday) of the SKA 
> conference:
>
> http://openparallel.com/multicore-world-2014/computing-for-ska/schedule-computing-for-ska-2014/
>
>
> John Gustafson Will be presenting a Keynote on Thursday 27th 
> February at 11:00 am
>
> The abstract is here:  
> http://openparallel.com/multicore-world-2014/speakers/john-gustafson/
>
> There is also a excellent background paper, (PDF - 64 pages) 
> which can be found here:
>
> http://sites.ieee.org/scv-cs/files/2013/03/Right-SizingPrecision1.pdf
>
> The math details are beyond me, but I understand his basic idea.
>
> I would like to bring your attention to Page 34 and his 
> comments re "standard committees"  and page 62 and his comments 
> "Coded in Mathematica  for now. Need a fast native version.."
>
> I am sure you can see where I am going with this ....
>
> 1.  Would it be possible to implement the "unum"  
> representation in D and therefore make it a  contender for the 
> SKA ?
>
> 2.  Is there any interest in this format within the D community
>
> Destroy.
>
> Nick

Hmm. Interesting. It could be done in D, definitely.

However, I'm a bit skeptical on how efficient it would ever be 
without specialist hardware. I'd have to read it over a few more 
times to get a proper grip on it.