Re: Feedback from JRES in Dijon

[Konrad Hinsen]

Hi Bengt,

>> [1] 
>> https://webcast.in2p3.fr/video/les-enjeux-et-defis-de-la-recherche-reproductible
>> https://aramis.resinfo.org/wiki/lib/exe/fetch.php?media=pleniaires:aramis_keynote_enjeux-et-defis-recherche-reproductible_konrad_hinsen.pdf
>>
>
> Is [1] available as a libre video download?

No idea. I can answer most questions about the content since I am the
speaker, but I was not involved with recording and publishing.

> IMO if you can't reproduce bit-identical results, you should find out 
> _exactly_ why.
> And if you do get exactly the same result, you should also know exactly why 
> ;-)

That's a nice way to put it!

> The video touches on IEEE 754 (and I do believe the lecturer
> understands these issues, but he says (IIU.fr :) no programming
> language gives control over the FPU -- is that true?? I mean,
> including on-the-metal x86_64 assembly language??

I wouldn't count that as a programming language, but that is of course
debatable. For me, a programming language is a platform-neutral medium
that can be run on any type of computer. And yes, you can argue that
the subset of x86 assembly that doesn't manipulate hardware other than
registers fits that definition, but you have to draw the line somewhere.

More interestingly (definitions aren't really interesting), I am of
course not certain that there is no programming language that gives
access to the full IEEE754 programming model. I am not aware of any,
but if there is, I'd like to find out!

> BTW, if you are interested in floating point, links from here should be fun:
>
> --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Kahan
> --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

Indeed. For those unfamiliar with that name, Kahan designed the 8087
floating-point processor for Intel and was the main driver behind the
IEEE 754 standardization effort.

Cheers,
  Konrad.