Implement the "unum" representation in D ?

[Andrei Alexandrescu via Digitalmars-d]

On 7/13/15 1:20 AM, Nick B wrote:
> On Sunday, 12 July 2015 at 03:52:32 UTC, jmh530 wrote:
>> On Saturday, 11 July 2015 at 03:02:24 UTC, Nick B wrote:
>>>
>>> FYI
>>>
>>> John Gustafson book is now out:
>>
>> I wouldn't have known about this way to deal with it if you hadn't
>> bumped this thread. So thanks, it's interesting (not sure if this book
>> will adequately address Walter's original concern that it won't really
>> reduce power consumption). I also found the discussion of rational
>> numbers earlier in the thread interesting.
>
> I glad that you guys have found this interesting :)
>
> Nick

Just read http://radiofreehpc.com/tmp/TheEndofErrorSampleChapter.pdf, 
very interesting stuff. I assume the definition of various primitives 
for unum are as compelling as alluded.

The treatment angles toward a hardware representation and primitives, 
yet these ideas seem reasonably actionable at language level. We'd be 
able to implement the primitives in software, and the result would be a 
competitor for infinite-precision arithmetic libraries, which do exist 
and are being used. Yet the software implementation would be very slow 
compared to IEEE floats, which limits applications quite a bit.

All we can do now, with our limited resources, is to keep an eye on 
developments and express cautious interest. If someone able and willing 
comes along with a unum library for D, that would be great.


Andrei