Re: Announcing Intel Fortran Compilers 9.0

In article <1119804438.088479.252910@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
hchu@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

> I know perfectly well about parallel computng. I brought double
> precision up only because it's natural for 64 bit computing.

This is a common misconception. There is little relationship between
so-called 64-bit systems and 64-bit floating point. Terms like 64-bit
systems have been largely used as marketing buzz words to the extent
that they mean different things at different times. You need to ask
precisely what the the term means in order to get any technical use out
of it.

Although these things change with the whims of marketing departments,
the most common current meaning of "64-bit system" is one that supports
64-bit addresses. Note that I said addresses - not floating-point
numbers. If your code uses more than 2gb or so of memory, then it likely
needs a 64-bit system. There can be other implications, which have been
mentioned here before.

But faster 64-bit floating-point arithmetic is *NOT* directly related to
so-called "64-bit computing". If you have been lead to think otherwise,
then you are headed for disappointment.

--
Richard Maine | Good judgment comes from experience;
email: my first.last at org.domain | experience comes from bad judgment.
org: nasa, domain: gov | -- Mark Twain
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Announcing Intel Fortran Compilers 9.0
    ... precision up only because it's natural for 64 bit computing. ... This is a common misconception. ... Terms like 64-bit systems have been largely used as marketing buzz words to the extent that they mean different things at different times. ... Double precision is "natural for 64-bit" only in the case where going from single to double precision pushes your application past the practical size limit for 32-bit operation. ...
    (comp.lang.fortran)
  • Re: Announcing Intel Fortran Compilers 9.0
    ... I know perfectly well about parallel computng. ... precision up only because it's natural for 64 bit computing. ... Sorry I was a little bit vague. ... I mentioned cluster only because ...
    (comp.lang.fortran)