Subject: Re: Math Libs (fwd)
Date: Tue, 31 May 1994 01:06:11 -0400 (EDT)
From: Udo K Schuermann <walrus@wam.umd.edu>

> Actually, I think I have confirmed that Imagine.fp does't use these libs. I
> used a less than elegant technique - I removed all four from the Libs

Nice one.  I would have guessed that the .fp version won't use the libs.
The integer version, though, might use them.  Try that and let us know,
please.  It would certainly be an interesting result if the integer version
with fmath libs ran quicker than the .fp version, eh? ;-)

> Can anyone tell me how these libs are used or are they redundant?

If you wanted to write only one single version of a program but the math
portion was not important enough to make you want to maintain separate
co-processor versions, then you'd use the math libraries and THEY will
either emulate the calls or go to the co-processor, depending on what you
have inside your box.

Any program, like Imagine, that wants to squeeze every last gram of speed
out of the math will probably want to go directly to the co-processor.
That is why there are two copies of Imagine, one .fp version and one
without.  I would wager that the .fp version will go down in flames if you
run it on a machine that doesn't have a math co-processor.

 ._.  Udo Schuermann
 ( )  walrus@wam.umd.edu


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