Hi Gaurav Yes, I find this quite interesting! Here at Perimeter I'm often involved in some "random" project, and using higher-than-regular precision is sometimes convenient. Using the GMP library or a double-double representation has serious drawbacks.
I'm involved in the Julia language <http://julialang.org>. We've been discussing a native type Float128, and I'd be happy to push for a native implementation on Power 9. However, I have not run Julia on Power yet; I don't know whether there are any problems. Julia uses LLVM for just-in-time code generation, so if Power is supported by LLVM, we should be home free. -erik On Fri, Sep 2, 2016 at 8:27 AM, Gaurav Khanna <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hello Folks — > > Just an update on this (rather old) message (below). Hardware support for > quadruple-precision floating-point (128-bit) will be available on the > Power9 processor next year: http://forwardthinking. > pcmag.com/show-reports/347472-amd-ibm-and-intel-point-the- > way-to-new-processors > > If any of you find this functionality useful, or even generally support > the idea, feel free to drop me a line. I will forward it to the team at IBM > that fought for this to be included. Thanks. > > Cheers > Gaurav > > ------------------------------------------------------------ > ---------------------------- > GAURAV KHANNA, (508) 910 6605, http://gravity.phy.umassd.edu > Professor, Physics Department, College of Engineering > Assoc. Director, Center for Scientific Computing & Visualization Research > Graduate Program Director, Engg & Appl. Sci. Ph.D. Program > University of Massachusetts Dartmouth > > "Black holes are where God divided by zero." - Steven Wright > > > > On Jul 3, 2012, at 4:06 PM, Gaurav Khanna <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Dear Colleague -- > > I hope you are doing well. I'm requesting some feedback here on the > potential need for high-precision numerics in your research work in the > next few years. By high-precision, I'm referring to higher than double > floating-point precision (64-bit or ~14 decimal digits) i.e. what is > traditionally known as quadruple-precision (128-bit or ~30 decimal digits) > and perhaps even higher. Today, one can easily emulate such a high level of > precision through software libraries, but these often perform an > order-of-magnitude slower than full hardware-supported, double-precision > computations. > > I know that in some subareas of our research community high-precision > numerics are going to be necessary and are already in use in some projects. > But there may be other areas as well. Long duration simulations or > computations utilizing higher-order methods (pseudo-spectral etc.) are > likely to benefit from high-precision numerics. There may also be some > benefits in the context of studying some borderline ill-conditioned > problems; and not necessarily only cases where very high accuracy is > desirable. Please take a somewhat farsighted view and consider this > question in the context of your own research. > > The main reason I'm inquiring is that I'm engaged with IBM R&D on this > issue, and they are considering developing a processor that has > hardware-level support for quadruple floating-point precision. Currently, > they are developing a POWER based server with an FPGA-accelerator that is > tightly-coupled to the main CPU. The FPGA could have the option of serving > as a high-precision numerics accelerator at the hardware level. In fact, > such a system is already operating in a number of IBM labs. > > At this stage, it is crucial to provide IBM with some feedback on the > "market" for such a product, so that it can actually advance past the > research development stage. Therefore, I'm requesting some feedback from > you on this matter. Do you see yourself using quadruple-precision numerics > in the next few years? If so, could you briefly explain why? Would you be > interested in such a server / HPC? Do you know others who could be > interested? Please feel free to forward this note to others. > > Thank you for your time. > > Best wishes, > Gaurav > > ----------------------------------------------- > > GAURAV KHANNA > UMass Dartmouth, Physics > (508) 910 6605 > http://gravity.phy.umassd.edu/ > > "Black holes are where God divided by zero." - Steven Wright > > > > _______________________________________________ > Developers mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.cactuscode.org/mailman/listinfo/developers > > -- Erik Schnetter <[email protected]> http://www.perimeterinstitute.ca/personal/eschnetter/
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