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What is 32 bit IEEE 754 standard floating point and how does this figure with the other 8, 16 and 32 bit numbers that XCASM uses?

The 8, 16 and 32 bit numbers dicsussed here are all integer numbers. This meens that they are all whole numbers.

A floating point number is a number that has a decimal point in it. The IEEE 754 standard specifies how numbers must be represented in binary if they are to meet the standard and be interchangable with other numbers from other systems that use the same standard. The Intel and AMD floating point coprocessors used in the Pentium, K6-II and ATHELON CPUs support this IEEE standard.

Many other PIC BASIC compilers do not support floating point numbers. Of those that do, most tend to use 24 bit formats which are not compatible with the IEEE standard. These 24 bit formats are easier to implement on the PIC and the floating point software runs faster, but they are less precise and provide a much smaller range of values to work with.

The XCSB compiler allows you to mix integer and floating point numbers in the same expression. It generates all the code necessary to convert integers to floating point and floating point to integer. Makeing the operation as painless and error free as possible. In contrast some other PIC BASIC compilers force the programmer to jump through hoops in order to use floating point numbers, obscuring the intent of an equation and allowing bugs to creep in.


 
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