Re: [boost] [serialization]Serialisation/deserialisationoffloating-point values

From: John Maddock (john_at_[hidden])
Date: 2006-05-02 13:33:30

>> I tend to agree with the MS engineers here. I've found out only
>> yesterday that the FPU/math library is not entirely deterministic in
>> some calculations (including square roots and trigonometry, typical
>> 3d stuff), so I think worrying about serialization/deserialization
>> is useless.

I disagree, it is certainly possible to serialise/deserialise exactly, glibc 
manages it OK, so I see no reason why MS can't.

Square roots are exactly-rounded under IEEE arithmetic BTW, as are the usual 
+ - * / operators: it's the functions that may return transcendental values 
(cos sin exp, pow) which can never give exact answers purely as a matter of 
principal: although in practice most implementations are last-bit-correct 
for the vast majority of inputs.

> Do you have example code / pointers to documentation for that?  I've
> always been under the impression that basic math is deterministic
> regardless of
> IEEE compliance, and would really like to know if/where there are
> cases where that doesn't hold.

I assume you've read "What Every Computer Scientist Should Know About 
Floating-Point Arithmetic" at 
http://docs.sun.com/source/806-3568/ncg_goldberg.html  ?

John.