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1 # Zftrans - transcendental operations
2
3 With thanks to:
4
5 * Jacob Lifshay
6 * Dan Petroski
7 * Mitch Alsup
8 * Allen Baum
9 * Andrew Waterman
10 * Luis Vitorio Cargnini
11
12 [[!toc levels=2]]
13
14 See:
15
16 * <http://bugs.libre-riscv.org/show_bug.cgi?id=127>
17 * <https://www.khronos.org/registry/spir-v/specs/unified1/OpenCL.ExtendedInstructionSet.100.html>
18 * Discussion: <http://lists.libre-riscv.org/pipermail/libre-riscv-dev/2019-August/002342.html>
19 * [[rv_major_opcode_1010011]] for opcode listing.
20 * [[zfpacc_proposal]] for accuracy settings proposal
21
22 Extension subsets:
23
24 * **Zftrans**: standard transcendentals (best suited to 3D)
25 * **ZftransExt**: extra functions (useful, not generally needed for 3D,
26 can be synthesised using Ztrans)
27 * **Ztrigpi**: trig. xxx-pi sinpi cospi tanpi
28 * **Ztrignpi**: trig non-xxx-pi sin cos tan
29 * **Zarctrigpi**: arc-trig. a-xxx-pi: atan2pi asinpi acospi
30 * **Zarctrignpi**: arc-trig. non-a-xxx-pi: atan2, asin, acos
31 * **Zfhyp**: hyperbolic/inverse-hyperbolic. sinh, cosh, tanh, asinh,
32 acosh, atanh (can be synthesised - see below)
33 * **ZftransAdv**: much more complex to implement in hardware
34 * **Zfrsqrt**: Reciprocal square-root.
35
36 Minimum recommended requirements for 3D: Zftrans, Ztrigpi, Zarctrigpi,
37 Zarctrignpi
38
39 # TODO:
40
41 * Decision on accuracy, moved to [[zfpacc_proposal]]
42 <http://lists.libre-riscv.org/pipermail/libre-riscv-dev/2019-August/002355.html>
43 * Errors **MUST** be repeatable.
44 * How about four Platform Specifications? 3DUNIX, UNIX, 3DEmbedded and Embedded?
45 <http://lists.libre-riscv.org/pipermail/libre-riscv-dev/2019-August/002361.html>
46 Accuracy requirements for dual (triple) purpose implementations must
47 meet the higher standard.
48 * Reciprocal Square-root is in its own separate extension (Zfrsqrt) as
49 it is desirable on its own by other implementors. This to be evaluated.
50
51 # Requirements <a name="requirements"></a>
52
53 This proposal is designed to meet a wide range of extremely diverse needs,
54 allowing implementors from all of them to benefit from the tools and hardware
55 cost reductions associated with common standards adoption.
56
57 **There are *four* different, disparate platform's needs (two new)**:
58
59 * 3D Embedded Platform
60 * Embedded Platform
61 * 3D UNIX Platform
62 * UNIX Platform
63
64 **The use-cases are**:
65
66 * 3D GPUs
67 * Numerical Computation
68 * (Potentially) A.I. / Machine-learning (1)
69
70 (1) although approximations suffice in this field, making it more likely
71 to use a custom extension. High-end ML would inherently definitely
72 be excluded.
73
74 **The power and die-area requirements vary from**:
75
76 * Ultra-low-power (smartwatches where GPU power budgets are in milliwatts)
77 * Mobile-Embedded (good performance with high efficiency for battery life)
78 * Desktop Computing
79 * Server / HPC (2)
80
81 (2) Supercomputing is left out of the requirements as it is traditionally
82 covered by Supercomputer Vectorisation Standards (such as RVV).
83
84 **The software requirements are**:
85
86 * Full public integration into GNU math libraries (libm)
87 * Full public integration into well-known Numerical Computation systems (numpy)
88 * Full public integration into upstream GNU and LLVM Compiler toolchains
89 * Full public integration into Khronos OpenCL SPIR-V compatible Compilers
90 seeking public Certification and Endorsement from the Khronos Group
91 under their Trademarked Certification Programme.
92
93 **The "contra"-requirements are**:
94
95 * The requirements are **not** for the purposes of developing a full custom
96 proprietary GPU with proprietary firmware
97 driven by *hardware* centric optimised design decisions as a priority over collaboration.
98 * A full custom proprietary GPU ASIC Manufacturer *may* benefit from
99 this proposal however the fact that they typically develop proprietary
100 software that is not shared with the rest of the community likely to
101 use this proposal means that they have completely different needs.
102 * This proposal is for *sharing* of effort in reducing development costs
103
104 # Requirements Analysis <a name="requirements_analysis"></a>
105
106 **Platforms**:
107
108 3D Embedded will require significantly less accuracy and will need to make
109 power budget and die area compromises that other platforms (including Embedded)
110 will not need to make.
111
112 3D UNIX Platform has to be performance-price-competitive: subtly-reduced
113 accuracy in FP32 is acceptable where, conversely, in the UNIX Platform,
114 IEEE754 compliance is a hard requirement that would compromise power
115 and efficiency on a 3D UNIX Platform.
116
117 Even in the Embedded platform, IEEE754 interoperability is beneficial,
118 where if it was a hard requirement the 3D Embedded platform would be severely
119 compromised in its ability to meet the demanding power budgets of that market.
120
121 Thus, learning from the lessons of
122 [SIMD considered harmful](https://www.sigarch.org/simd-instructions-considered-harmful/)
123 this proposal works in conjunction with the [[zfpacc_proposal]], so as
124 not to overburden the OP32 ISA space with extra "reduced-accuracy" opcodes.
125
126 **Use-cases**:
127
128 There really is little else in the way of suitable markets. 3D GPUs
129 have extremely competitive power-efficiency and power-budget requirements
130 that are completely at odds with the other market at the other end of
131 the spectrum: Numerical Computation.
132
133 Interoperability in Numerical Computation is absolutely critical: it implies
134 IEEE754 compliance. However full IEEE754 compliance automatically and
135 inherently penalises a GPU, where accuracy is simply just not necessary.
136
137 To meet the needs of both markets, the two new platforms have to be created,
138 and [[zfpacc_proposal]] is a critical dependency. Runtime selection of
139 FP accuracy allows an implementation to be "Hybrid" - cover UNIX IEEE754
140 compliance *and* 3D performance in a single ASIC.
141
142 **Power and die-area requirements**:
143
144 This is where the conflicts really start to hit home.
145
146 A "Numerical High performance only" proposal (suitable for Server / HPC
147 only) would customise and target the Extension based on a quantitative
148 analysis of the value of certain opcodes *for HPC only*. It would
149 conclude, reasonably and rationally, that it is worthwhile adding opcodes
150 to RVV as parallel Vector operations, and that further discussion of
151 the matter is pointless.
152
153 A "Proprietary GPU effort" (even one that was intended for publication
154 of its API through, for example, a public libre-licensed Vulkan SPIR-V
155 Compiler) would conclude, reasonably and rationally, that, likewise, the
156 opcodes were best suited to be added to RVV, and, further, that their
157 requirements conflict with the HPC world, due to the reduced accuracy.
158 This on the basis that the silicon die area required for IEEE754 is far
159 greater than that needed for reduced-accuracy, and thus their product would
160 be completely unacceptable in the market.
161
162 An "Embedded 3D" GPU has radically different performance, power
163 and die-area requirements (and may even target SoftCores in FPGA).
164 Sharing of the silicon to cover multi-function uses (CORDIC for example)
165 is absolutely essential in order to keep cost and power down, and high
166 performance simply is not. Multi-cycle FSMs instead of pipelines may
167 be considered acceptable, and so on. Subsets of functionality are
168 also essential.
169
170 An "Embedded Numerical" platform has requirements that are separate and
171 distinct from all of the above!
172
173 Mobile Computing needs (tablets, smartphones) again pull in a different
174 direction: high performance, reasonable accuracy, but efficiency is
175 critical. Screen sizes are not at the 4K range: they are within the
176 800x600 range at the low end (320x240 at the extreme budget end), and
177 only the high-performance smartphones and tablets provide 1080p (1920x1080).
178 With lower resolution, accuracy compromises are possible which the Desktop
179 market (4k and soon to be above) would find unacceptable.
180
181 Meeting these disparate markets may be achieved, again, through
182 [[zfpacc_proposal]], by subdividing into four platforms, yet, in addition
183 to that, subdividing the extension into subsets that best suit the different
184 market areas.
185
186 **Software requirements**:
187
188 A "custom" extension is developed in near-complete isolation from the
189 rest of the RISC-V Community. Cost savings to the Corporation are
190 large, with no direct beneficial feedback to (or impact on) the rest
191 of the RISC-V ecosystem.
192
193 However given that 3D revolves around Standards - DirectX, Vulkan, OpenGL,
194 OpenCL - users have much more influence than first appears. Compliance
195 with these standards is critical as the userbase (Games writers, scientific
196 applications) expects not to have to rewrite large codebases to conform
197 with non-standards-compliant hardware.
198
199 Therefore, compliance with public APIs is paramount, and compliance with
200 Trademarked Standards is critical. Any deviation from Trademarked Standards
201 means that an implementation may not be sold and also make a claim of being,
202 for example, "Vulkan compatible".
203
204 This in turn reinforces and makes a hard requirement a need for public
205 compliance with such standards, over-and-above what would otherwise be
206 set by a RISC-V Standards Development Process, including both the
207 software compliance and the knock-on implications that has for hardware.
208
209 **Collaboration**:
210
211 The case for collaboration on any Extension is already well-known.
212 In this particular case, the precedent for inclusion of Transcendentals
213 in other ISAs, both from Graphics and High-performance Computing, has
214 these primitives well-established in high-profile software libraries and
215 compilers in both GPU and HPC Computer Science divisions. Collaboration
216 and shared public compliance with those standards brooks no argument.
217
218 *Overall this proposal is categorically and wholly unsuited to
219 relegation of "custom" status*.
220
221 # Quantitative Analysis <a name="analysis"></a>
222
223 This is extremely challenging. Normally, an Extension would require full,
224 comprehensive and detailed analysis of every single instruction, for every
225 single possible use-case, in every single market. The amount of silicon
226 area required would be balanced against the benefits of introducing extra
227 opcodes, as well as a full market analysis performed to see which divisions
228 of Computer Science benefit from the introduction of the instruction,
229 in each and every case.
230
231 With 34 instructions, four possible Platforms, and sub-categories of
232 implementations even within each Platform, over 136 separate and distinct
233 analyses is not a practical proposition.
234
235 A little more intelligence has to be applied to the problem space,
236 to reduce it down to manageable levels.
237
238 Fortunately, the subdivision by Platform, in combination with the
239 identification of only two primary markets (Numerical Computation and
240 3D), means that the logical reasoning applies *uniformly* and broadly
241 across *groups* of instructions rather than individually.
242
243 In addition, hardware algorithms such as CORDIC can cover such a wide
244 range of operations (simply by changing the input parameters) that the
245 normal argument of compromising and excluding certain opcodes because they
246 would significantly increase the silicon area is knocked down.
247
248 However, CORDIC, whilst space-efficient, and thus well-suited to
249 Embedded, is an old iterative algorithm not well-suited to High-Performance
250 Computing or Mid to High-end GPUs, where commercially-competitive
251 FP32 pipeline lengths are only around 5 stages.
252
253 Not only that, but some operations such as LOG1P, which would normally
254 be excluded from one market (due to there being an alternative macro-op
255 fused sequence replacing it) are required for other markets due to
256 the higher accuracy obtainable at the lower range of input values when
257 compared to LOG(1+P).
258
259 (Thus we start to see why "proprietary" markets are excluded from this
260 proposal, because "proprietary" markets would make *hardware*-driven
261 optimisation decisions that would be completely inappropriate for a
262 common standard).
263
264 ATAN and ATAN2 is another example area in which one market's needs
265 conflict directly with another: the only viable solution, without compromising
266 one market to the detriment of the other, is to provide both opcodes
267 and let implementors make the call as to which (or both) to optimise,
268 at the *hardware* level.
269
270 Likewise it is well-known that loops involving "0 to 2 times pi", often
271 done in subdivisions of powers of two, are costly to do because they
272 involve floating-point multiplication by PI in each and every loop.
273 3D GPUs solved this by providing SINPI variants which range from 0 to 1
274 and perform the multiply *inside* the hardware itself. In the case of
275 CORDIC, it turns out that the multiply by PI is not even needed (is a
276 loop invariant magic constant).
277
278 However, some markets may not wish to *use* CORDIC, for reasons mentioned
279 above, and, again, one market would be penalised if SINPI was prioritised
280 over SIN, or vice-versa.
281
282 Thus the best that can be done is to use Quantitative Analysis to work
283 out which "subsets" - sub-Extensions - to include, and be as "inclusive"
284 as possible, and thus allow implementors to decide what to add to their
285 implementation, and how best to optimise them.
286
287 This approach *only* works due to the uniformity of the function space,
288 and is **not** an appropriate methodology for use in other Extensions
289 with diverse markets and large numbers of potential opcodes.
290 BitManip is the perfect counter-example.
291
292 # Proposed Opcodes vs Khronos OpenCL Opcodes <a name="khronos_equiv"></a>
293
294 This list shows the (direct) equivalence between proposed opcodes and
295 their Khronos OpenCL equivalents.
296
297 See
298 <https://www.khronos.org/registry/spir-v/specs/unified1/OpenCL.ExtendedInstructionSet.100.html>
299
300 * Special FP16 opcodes are *not* being proposed, except by indirect / inherent
301 use of the "fmt" field that is already present in the RISC-V Specification.
302 * "Native" opcodes are *not* being proposed: implementors will be expected
303 to use the (equivalent) proposed opcode covering the same function.
304 * "Fast" opcodes are *not* being proposed, because the Khronos Specification
305 fast\_length, fast\_normalise and fast\_distance OpenCL opcodes require
306 vectors (or can be done as scalar operations using other RISC-V instructions).
307
308 The OpenCL FP32 opcodes are **direct** equivalents to the proposed opcodes.
309 Deviation from conformance with the Khronos Specification - including the
310 Khronos Specification accuracy requirements - is not an option, as it
311 results in non-compliance, and the vendor may not use the Trademarked words
312 "Vulkan" etc. in conjunction with their product.
313
314 [[!table data="""
315 Proposed opcode | OpenCL FP32 | OpenCL FP16 | OpenCL native | OpenCL fast |
316 FSIN | sin | half\_sin | native\_sin | NONE |
317 FCOS | cos | half\_cos | native\_cos | NONE |
318 FTAN | tan | half\_tan | native\_tan | NONE |
319 NONE (1) | sincos | NONE | NONE | NONE |
320 FASIN | asin | NONE | NONE | NONE |
321 FACOS | acos | NONE | NONE | NONE |
322 FATAN | atan | NONE | NONE | NONE |
323 FSINPI | sinpi | NONE | NONE | NONE |
324 FCOSPI | cospi | NONE | NONE | NONE |
325 FTANPI | tanpi | NONE | NONE | NONE |
326 FASINPI | asinpi | NONE | NONE | NONE |
327 FACOSPI | acospi | NONE | NONE | NONE |
328 FATANPI | atanpi | NONE | NONE | NONE |
329 FSINH | sinh | NONE | NONE | NONE |
330 FCOSH | cosh | NONE | NONE | NONE |
331 FTANH | tanh | NONE | NONE | NONE |
332 FASINH | asinh | NONE | NONE | NONE |
333 FACOSH | acosh | NONE | NONE | NONE |
334 FATANH | atanh | NONE | NONE | NONE |
335 FRSQRT | rsqrt | half\_rsqrt | native\_rsqrt | NONE |
336 FCBRT | cbrt | NONE | NONE | NONE |
337 FEXP2 | exp2 | half\_exp2 | native\_exp2 | NONE |
338 FLOG2 | log2 | half\_log2 | native\_log2 | NONE |
339 FEXPM1 | expm1 | NONE | NONE | NONE |
340 FLOG1P | log1p | NONE | NONE | NONE |
341 FEXP | exp | half\_exp | native\_exp | NONE |
342 FLOG | log | half\_log | native\_log | NONE |
343 FEXP10 | exp10 | half\_exp10 | native\_exp10 | NONE |
344 FLOG10 | log10 | half\_log10 | native\_log10 | NONE |
345 FATAN2 | atan2 | NONE | NONE | NONE |
346 FATAN2PI | atan2pi | NONE | NONE | NONE |
347 FPOW | pow | NONE | NONE | NONE |
348 FROOT | rootn | NONE | NONE | NONE |
349 FHYPOT | hypot | NONE | NONE | NONE |
350 FRECIP | NONE | half\_recip | native\_recip | NONE |
351 """]]
352
353 Note (1) FSINCOS is macro-op fused (see below).
354
355 # List of 2-arg opcodes
356
357 [[!table data="""
358 opcode | Description | pseudo-code | Extension |
359 FATAN2 | atan2 arc tangent | rd = atan2(rs2, rs1) | Zarctrignpi |
360 FATAN2PI | atan2 arc tangent / pi | rd = atan2(rs2, rs1) / pi | Zarctrigpi |
361 FPOW | x power of y | rd = pow(rs1, rs2) | ZftransAdv |
362 FROOT | x power 1/y | rd = pow(rs1, 1/rs2) | ZftransAdv |
363 FHYPOT | hypotenuse | rd = sqrt(rs1^2 + rs2^2) | Zftrans |
364 """]]
365
366 # List of 1-arg transcendental opcodes
367
368 [[!table data="""
369 opcode | Description | pseudo-code | Extension |
370 FRSQRT | Reciprocal Square-root | rd = sqrt(rs1) | Zfrsqrt |
371 FCBRT | Cube Root | rd = pow(rs1, 1.0 / 3) | Zftrans |
372 FRECIP | Reciprocal | rd = 1.0 / rs1 | Zftrans |
373 FEXP2 | power-of-2 | rd = pow(2, rs1) | Zftrans |
374 FLOG2 | log2 | rd = log(2. rs1) | Zftrans |
375 FEXPM1 | exponential minus 1 | rd = pow(e, rs1) - 1.0 | Zftrans |
376 FLOG1P | log plus 1 | rd = log(e, 1 + rs1) | Zftrans |
377 FEXP | exponential | rd = pow(e, rs1) | ZftransExt |
378 FLOG | natural log (base e) | rd = log(e, rs1) | ZftransExt |
379 FEXP10 | power-of-10 | rd = pow(10, rs1) | ZftransExt |
380 FLOG10 | log base 10 | rd = log(10, rs1) | ZftransExt |
381 """]]
382
383 # List of 1-arg trigonometric opcodes
384
385 [[!table data="""
386 opcode | Description | pseudo-code | Extension |
387 FSIN | sin (radians) | rd = sin(rs1) | Ztrignpi |
388 FCOS | cos (radians) | rd = cos(rs1) | Ztrignpi |
389 FTAN | tan (radians) | rd = tan(rs1) | Ztrignpi |
390 FASIN | arcsin (radians) | rd = asin(rs1) | Zarctrignpi |
391 FACOS | arccos (radians) | rd = acos(rs1) | Zarctrignpi |
392 FATAN (1) | arctan (radians) | rd = atan(rs1) | Zarctrignpi |
393 FSINPI | sin times pi | rd = sin(pi * rs1) | Ztrigpi |
394 FCOSPI | cos times pi | rd = cos(pi * rs1) | Ztrigpi |
395 FTANPI | tan times pi | rd = tan(pi * rs1) | Ztrigpi |
396 FASINPI | arcsin / pi | rd = asin(rs1) / pi | Zarctrigpi |
397 FACOSPI | arccos / pi | rd = acos(rs1) / pi | Zarctrigpi |
398 FATANPI (1) | arctan / pi | rd = atan(rs1) / pi | Zarctrigpi |
399 FSINH | hyperbolic sin (radians) | rd = sinh(rs1) | Zfhyp |
400 FCOSH | hyperbolic cos (radians) | rd = cosh(rs1) | Zfhyp |
401 FTANH | hyperbolic tan (radians) | rd = tanh(rs1) | Zfhyp |
402 FASINH | inverse hyperbolic sin | rd = asinh(rs1) | Zfhyp |
403 FACOSH | inverse hyperbolic cos | rd = acosh(rs1) | Zfhyp |
404 FATANH | inverse hyperbolic tan | rd = atanh(rs1) | Zfhyp |
405 """]]
406
407 Note (1): FATAN/FATANPI is a pseudo-op expanding to FATAN2/FATAN2PI (needs deciding)
408
409 # Synthesis, Pseudo-code ops and macro-ops
410
411 The pseudo-ops are best left up to the compiler rather than being actual
412 pseudo-ops, by allocating one scalar FP register for use as a constant
413 (loop invariant) set to "1.0" at the beginning of a function or other
414 suitable code block.
415
416 * FSINCOS - fused macro-op between FSIN and FCOS (issued in that order).
417 * FSINCOSPI - fused macro-op between FSINPI and FCOSPI (issued in that order).
418
419 FATANPI example pseudo-code:
420
421 lui t0, 0x3F800 // upper bits of f32 1.0
422 fmv.x.s ft0, t0
423 fatan2pi.s rd, rs1, ft0
424
425 Hyperbolic function example (obviates need for Zfhyp except for
426 high-performance or correctly-rounding):
427
428 ASINH( x ) = ln( x + SQRT(x**2+1))
429
430 # Reciprocal
431
432 Used to be an alias. Some imolementors may wish to implement divide as y times recip(x)
433
434 # To evaluate: should LOG be replaced with LOG1P (and EXP with EXPM1)?
435
436 RISC principle says "exclude LOG because it's covered by LOGP1 plus an ADD".
437 Research needed to ensure that implementors are not compromised by such
438 a decision
439 <http://lists.libre-riscv.org/pipermail/libre-riscv-dev/2019-August/002358.html>
440
441 > > correctly-rounded LOG will return different results than LOGP1 and ADD.
442 > > Likewise for EXP and EXPM1
443
444 > ok, they stay in as real opcodes, then.
445
446 # ATAN / ATAN2 commentary
447
448 Discussion starts here:
449 <http://lists.libre-riscv.org/pipermail/libre-riscv-dev/2019-August/002470.html>
450
451 from Mitch Alsup:
452
453 would like to point out that the general implementations of ATAN2 do a
454 bunch of special case checks and then simply call ATAN.
455
456 double ATAN2( double y, double x )
457 { // IEEE 754-2008 quality ATAN2
458
459 // deal with NANs
460 if( ISNAN( x ) ) return x;
461 if( ISNAN( y ) ) return y;
462
463 // deal with infinities
464 if( x == +∞ && |y|== +∞ ) return copysign( π/4, y );
465 if( x == +∞ ) return copysign( 0.0, y );
466 if( x == -∞ && |y|== +∞ ) return copysign( 3π/4, y );
467 if( x == -∞ ) return copysign( π, y );
468 if( |y|== +∞ ) return copysign( π/2, y );
469
470 // deal with signed zeros
471 if( x == 0.0 && y != 0.0 ) return copysign( π/2, y );
472 if( x >=+0.0 && y == 0.0 ) return copysign( 0.0, y );
473 if( x <=-0.0 && y == 0.0 ) return copysign( π, y );
474
475 // calculate ATAN2 textbook style
476 if( x > 0.0 ) return ATAN( |y / x| );
477 if( x < 0.0 ) return π - ATAN( |y / x| );
478 }
479
480
481 Yet the proposed encoding makes ATAN2 the primitive and has ATAN invent
482 a constant and then call/use ATAN2.
483
484 When one considers an implementation of ATAN, one must consider several
485 ranges of evaluation::
486
487 x [ -∞, -1.0]:: ATAN( x ) = -π/2 + ATAN( 1/x );
488 x (-1.0, +1.0]:: ATAN( x ) = + ATAN( x );
489 x [ 1.0, +∞]:: ATAN( x ) = +π/2 - ATAN( 1/x );
490
491 I should point out that the add/sub of π/2 can not lose significance
492 since the result of ATAN(1/x) is bounded 0..π/2
493
494 The bottom line is that I think you are choosing to make too many of
495 these into OpCodes, making the hardware function/calculation unit (and
496 sequencer) more complicated that necessary.
497
498 --------------------------------------------------------
499
500 We therefore I think have a case for bringing back ATAN and including ATAN2.
501
502 The reason is that whilst a microcode-like GPU-centric platform would do ATAN2 in terms of ATAN, a UNIX-centric platform would do it the other way round.
503
504 (that is the hypothesis, to be evaluated for correctness. feedback requested).
505
506 Thie because we cannot compromise or prioritise one platfrom's speed/accuracy over another. That is not reasonable or desirable, to penalise one implementor over another.
507
508 Thus, all implementors, to keep interoperability, must both have both opcodes and may choose, at the architectural and routing level, which one to implement in terms of the other.
509
510 Allowing implementors to choose to add either opcode and let traps sort it out leaves an uncertainty in the software developer's mind: they cannot trust the hardware, available from many vendors, to be performant right across the board.
511
512 Standards are a pig.
513
514 ---
515
516 I might suggest that if there were a way for a calculation to be performed
517 and the result of that calculation chained to a subsequent calculation
518 such that the precision of the result-becomes-operand is wider than
519 what will fit in a register, then you can dramatically reduce the count
520 of instructions in this category while retaining
521
522 acceptable accuracy:
523
524 z = x / y
525
526 can be calculated as::
527
528 z = x * (1/y)
529
530 Where 1/y has about 26-to-32 bits of fraction. No, it's not IEEE 754-2008
531 accurate, but GPUs want speed and
532
533 1/y is fully pipelined (F32) while x/y cannot be (at reasonable area). It
534 is also not "that inaccurate" displaying 0.625-to-0.52 ULP.
535
536 Given that one has the ability to carry (and process) more fraction bits,
537 one can then do high precision multiplies of π or other transcendental
538 radixes.
539
540 And GPUs have been doing this almost since the dawn of 3D.
541
542 // calculate ATAN2 high performance style
543 // Note: at this point x != y
544 //
545 if( x > 0.0 )
546 {
547 if( y < 0.0 && |y| < |x| ) return - π/2 - ATAN( x / y );
548 if( y < 0.0 && |y| > |x| ) return + ATAN( y / x );
549 if( y > 0.0 && |y| < |x| ) return + ATAN( y / x );
550 if( y > 0.0 && |y| > |x| ) return + π/2 - ATAN( x / y );
551 }
552 if( x < 0.0 )
553 {
554 if( y < 0.0 && |y| < |x| ) return + π/2 + ATAN( x / y );
555 if( y < 0.0 && |y| > |x| ) return + π - ATAN( y / x );
556 if( y > 0.0 && |y| < |x| ) return + π - ATAN( y / x );
557 if( y > 0.0 && |y| > |x| ) return +3π/2 + ATAN( x / y );
558 }
559
560 This way the adds and subtracts from the constant are not in a precision
561 precarious position.