To IBM-MAIN and (old) LNGC distribution lists IEEE has been working on a new (draft) floating-point specification that includes DECIMAL floating-point. IBM has been involved in this and I would expect either software and/or hardware support in the OS (and eventually some compilers) sooner than later. XML is also involved in some of this. Check out (for example and as a good IBM starting place)
http://www2.hursley.ibm.com/decimal/decimal.html PLEASE note the following information and take appropriate action (if this is a topic that you might be interested in). NOTE particularly that they WANT "consumer" as well as implementor input. -----Original Message----- : Thursday, September 14, 2006 10:30 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED] I have just verified that web-based enrollment in the 754R sponsor ballot group is working. I was able to join the IEEE-SA (standards association) one day and the sponsor ballot group the next following the instructions at http://754r.ucbtest.org/balloting.txt As a reminder: The IEEE 754R working group is expected to recommend a draft standard to the IEEE Microprocessor Standards Committee on September 21, 2006. It is proposed to replace the withdrawn standards ANSI/IEEE 754-1985 and 854-1987. MSC will then refer that draft to a Sponsor Ballot group, consisting of individual experts representing various standards constituencies. Part of the MSC chair's responsibilities include obtaining a DIVERSE sponsor ballot group. The 754R working group has been dominated by standards "producers", above all chip implementers, who have of course the most immediate economic interest in the outcome. What is especially needed is more standards "consumers," who in this case are those who will write software within the programming environments conforming to the draft standard, and those who will use such software. I vigorously encourage participation by such consumers. Details of participation are explained at http://754r.ucbtest.org/balloting.txt Note that participation in an IEEE Sponsor Ballot is a significant commitment, not to be undertaken lightly: * Membership in IEEE Standards Association (IEEE-SA) or a participation fee must be paid. For IEEE members, IEEE-SA membership is an additional $35/year. * Sponsor Ballot group members <b>must</b> return ballots. The ballot fails if significant numbers of ballot group members fail to act. * NO ballots <b>must</b> be accompanied by lists of changes that would convert a NO ballot to a YES. * It is anticipated that there may be several cycles of balloting, response, revision, and resubmittal. * The deadline for joining this Sponsor Ballot is Sep 28. Based on my experience this week, I would suggest joining IEEE-SA or paying the participation fee by Sep 22 to allow a couple of days for the database to be updated before joining the Sponsor Ballot. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
