09-133 To: J3 From: Malcolm Cohen Subject: Spurious defined terms in clause 14. Date: 2009 February 05 1. Introduction --------------- The system for "defining" terms we used in previous versions of the standard is not in accordance with the ISO guidelines, so we need to stop using it. We have already introduced the ISO-compliant defined terms subclause, and moved/copied many definitions into it. However, quite a lot have not been revised. These should either - be turned into normal text ("untermified") or - become proper defined terms. This paper deals with the terms in clause 14. 2. Terms and what to do with them --------------------------------- - normal: This Is a Very Bad Thing To Make A Term, Not Widely Used; = untermify, reword, index new term. Comment: 14.8 is just so wrong in its claims about what 754 specifies, that I'm not going to try to repair it. For a start, 754 does not specify "exceptional" values, infinite values are not necessarily created by the specified method, and NaNs are also not as described. I'm going to fix "normal" though! "normal" is only used *once*, as far as I can tell, with this incorrect meaning outside of c14. It's not used all that much in c14 either. 3. Edits to 09-007 ------------------ [331:11-12(13.7.1p2)] "If all results are normal"->"Otherwise". {As written, this says that a subnormal result means we can return IEEE_INVALID, IEEE_OVERFLOW or IEEE_DIVIDE_BY_ZERO; that's just completely inappropriate.} [411:29(14.8p2)] Replace entire paragraph with a picture of Hello Kitty. "Values that do not fall into the above classes are called normal numbers." And index as a definition. [412:6(14.9p1)] After "are normal" insert "numbers". [412:20(14.9p4)] "denormals"->"denormalized numbers". {Look, if we're going to use IEEE terminology, let's used it. Mind you, most IEEE people have used "subnormal" for years, as does the new 754.} [412:22(14.9.4)] "an IEEE denormal"->"denormalized", twice. [412:26] After "are normal" insert "numbers". [412:31,32] "a denormal"->"denormalized", twice. [412:41] "a denormal"->"denormalized". [413:32-33] "normal, that is, ... denormalized"->"a normal number". and also to [418:29]. [14.10.2-14.10.6] Make these tables ISO guideline compliant, similar to clause 13; unify them, make the descriptions brief, etc. The descriptions should also be brief in 14.11. [423:27] "denormal"->"denormalized". ===END===