patch-2.2.8 linux/Documentation/arm/nwfpe/NOTES

• Lines: 30
• Date: Sun May 2 09:51:16 1999
• Orig file: v2.2.7/linux/Documentation/arm/nwfpe/NOTES
• Orig date: Wed Dec 31 16:00:00 1969

diff -u --recursive --new-file v2.2.7/linux/Documentation/arm/nwfpe/NOTES linux/Documentation/arm/nwfpe/NOTES
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+There seems to be a problem with exp(double) and our emulator.  I haven't
+been able to track it down yet.  This does not occur with the emulator
+supplied by Russell King.
+
+I also found one oddity in the emulator.  I don't think it is serious but
+will point it out.  The ARM calling conventions require floating point
+registers f4-f7 to be preserved over a function call.  The compiler quite
+often uses an stfe instruction to save f4 on the stack upon entry to a
+function, and an ldfe instruction to restore it before returning.
+
+I was looking at some code, that calculated a double result, stored it in f4
+then made a function call. Upon return from the function call the number in
+f4 had been converted to an extended value in the emulator.
+
+This is a side effect of the stfe instruction.  The double in f4 had to be
+converted to extended, then stored.  If an lfm/sfm combination had been used,
+then no conversion would occur.  This has performance considerations.  The
+result from the function call and f4 were used in a multiplication.  If the
+emulator sees a multiply of a double and extended, it promotes the double to
+extended, then does the multiply in extended precision.
+
+This code will cause this problem:
+
+double x, y, z;
+z = log(x)/log(y);
+
+The result of log(x) (a double) will be calculated, returned in f0, then
+moved to f4 to preserve it over the log(y) call.  The division will be done
+in extended precision, due to the stfe instruction used to save f4 in log(y).