[llvm-commits] [cfe-commits] [PATCH] Add llvm.fmuladd intrinsic.

[Stephen Canon]

On Jun 5, 2012, at 3:04 PM, Chandler Carruth <chandlerc at google.com> wrote:

> On Tue, Jun 5, 2012 at 2:58 PM, Stephen Canon <scanon at apple.com> wrote:
> On Jun 5, 2012, at 2:45 PM, John McCall <rjmccall at apple.com> wrote:
> 
> > On Jun 5, 2012, at 2:15 PM, Stephen Canon wrote:
> >
> >> On Jun 5, 2012, at 1:51 PM, Chandler Carruth <chandlerc at google.com> wrote:
> >>
> >>> That said, FP_CONTRACT doesn't apply to C++, and it's quite unlikely to become a serious part of the standard given these (among other) limitations. Curiously, in C++11, it may not be needed to get the benefit of fused multiply-add:
> >>
> >> Perversely, a strict reading of C++11 seems (to me) to not allow FMA formation in C++ at all:
> >>
> >>      • The values of the floating operands and the results of floating expressions may be represented in greater precision and range than that required by the type; the types are not changed thereby.
> >>
> >> FMA formation does not increase the precision or range of the result (it may or may not have smaller error, but it is not more precise), so this paragraph doesn't actually license FMA formation.  I can't find anywhere else in the standard that could (though I am *far* less familiar with C++11 than C11, so I may not be looking in the right places).
> >
> > Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought that an FMA could be formalized as representing the result of the multiply with greater precision than the operation's type actually provides, and then using that as the operand of the addition.  It's understand that that can change the result of the addition in ways that aren't just "more precise".  Similarly, performing 'float' operations using x87 long doubles can change the result of the operation, but I'm pretty sure that the committees explicitly had hardware limitations like that in mind when they added this language.
> 
> That's an interesting point.  I'm inclined to agree with this interpretation (there are some minor details about whether or not 0*INF + NAN raises the invalid flag, but let's agree to ignore that).
> 
> I'm not familiar enough with the language used in the C++ spec to know whether this makes C++ numerics equivalent to STDC FP_CONTRACT on, or equivalent to "allow greedy FMA formation".  Anyone?
> 
> If you agree w/ John's interpretation, and don't consider the flag case you mention, AFAICT, this allows greedy FMA formation, unless the intermediate values are round-tripped through a cast construct such as I described.
> 
> It definitely doesn't match STDC FP_CONTRACT ON as there is no special status granted due to the expressions being written in different source statements.

So C++ provides no means to forbid FMA formation (other than possibly a gratuitous cast on the result of the multiply)?  That's unfortunate in the extreme.

- Steve
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