Both BFP and DFP are IEEE-standard. Both are "more portable" if that means usable outside IBM environments, than HFP; but this portability is compromised by big- and little-endian differences.
In general, HFP values are readily converted into BFP or DFP ones using hardware instructions on a mainframe. The reverse is not at all true in general, but such convertibility is very likely, indeed all but certain, to be possible for the arithmetic values that figure in business applications. (Non-arithmetic BFP and DFP values, NaNs, are useful everywhere.; but they are not yet much used) John Gilmore, Ashland, MA 01721 - USA ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
