Information technology — Programming languages, their environments and system software interfaces — Extensions for the programming language C++ to support decimal floating-point arithmetic

ISO/IEC TR 24733:2011 specifies an extension to the programming language C++, specified by ISO/IEC 14882:2003. The extension provides support for decimal floating-point arithmetic that is consistent with the specification in IEEE 754-2008. ISO/IEC TR 24733:2011 does not consider the binary floating-point arithmetic specified in IEEE 754-2008.

Technologies de l'information — Langages de programmation, leurs environnements et interfaces de logiciel système — Extensions pour le langage de programmation C++ pour supporter l'arithmétique flottante décimale

General Information

Status
Published
Publication Date
24-Oct-2011
Current Stage
6060 - International Standard published
Due Date
30-Oct-2011
Completion Date
25-Oct-2011
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ISO/IEC TR 24733:2011 - Information technology -- Programming languages, their environments and system software interfaces -- Extensions for the programming language C++ to support decimal floating-point arithmetic
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TECHNICAL ISO/IEC
REPORT TR
24733
First edition
2011-11-01

Information technology — Programming
languages, their environments and
system software interfaces — Extensions
for the programming language C++ to
support decimal floating-point arithmetic
Technologies de l'information — Langages de programmation, leurs
environnements et interfaces de logiciel système — Extensions pour le
langage de programmation C++ pour supporter l'arithmétique flottante
décimale




Reference number
ISO/IEC TR 24733:2011(E)
©
ISO/IEC 2011

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ISO/IEC TR 24733:2011(E)

COPYRIGHT PROTECTED DOCUMENT


©  ISO/IEC 2011
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, no part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and microfilm, without permission in writing from either ISO at the address below or
ISO's member body in the country of the requester.
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Fax + 41 22 749 09 47
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Published in Switzerland

ii © ISO/IEC 2011 – All rights reserved

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ISO/IEC TR 24733:2011(E)
Contents Page
Foreword . vi
Introduction . vii
0.1 General . vii
0.2 Arithmetic model . vii
0.3 The Formats . viii
1 Scope . 1
2 Normative references . 1
3 Conventions . 2
3.1 General . 2
3.2 Relation to C++ Standard Library Introduction . 2
3.3 Relation to "Technical Report on C++ Library Extensions" . 3
3.4 Categories of extensions . 3
3.5 Namespaces and headers . 4
4 Decimal floating-point types . 5
4.1 Characteristics of decimal floating-point types . 5
4.2 Decimal Types . 6
4.2.1 Header synopsis . 6
4.2.2 Class decimal32 . 10
4.2.2.1 Class summary . 10
4.2.2.2 Construct/copy/destroy . 11
4.2.2.3 Conversion from floating-point type . 11
4.2.2.4 Conversion from integral type . 11
4.2.2.5 Conversion to integral type . 12
4.2.2.6 Increment and decrement operators . 12
4.2.2.7 Compound assignment . 12
4.2.3 Class decimal64 . 14
4.2.3.1 Class summary . 14
4.2.3.2 Construct/copy/destroy . 14
4.2.3.3 Conversion from floating-point type . 14
4.2.3.4 Conversion from integral type . 15
4.2.3.5 Conversion to integral type . 15
4.2.3.6 Increment and decrement operators . 15
4.2.3.7 Compound assignment . 16
4.2.4 Class decimal128 . 17
4.2.4.1 Class summary . 17
4.2.4.2 Construct/copy/destroy . 17
4.2.4.3 Conversion from floating-point type . 17
4.2.4.4 Conversion from integral type . 18
4.2.4.5 Conversion to integral type . 18
4.2.4.6 Increment and decrement operators . 18
4.2.4.7 Compound assignment . 19
4.2.5 Initialization from coefficient and exponent . 20
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ISO/IEC TR 24733:2011(E)
4.2.6 Conversion to generic floating-point type . 20
4.2.7 Unary arithmetic operators . 21
4.2.8 Binary arithmetic operators . 21
4.2.9 Comparison operators . 22
4.2.10 Formatted input . 25
4.2.11 Formatted output . 26
4.3 Additions to header . 27
4.4 Headers and . 30
4.4.1 General . 30
4.4.2 Additions to header synopsis . 30
4.4.3 Additions to header synopsis . 31
4.4.4 Maximum finite value . 31
4.4.5 Epsilon . 31
4.4.6 Minimum positive normal value . 32
4.4.7 Minimum positive subnormal value . 32
4.4.8 Evaluation format . 32
4.5 Additions to and . 33
4.5.1 General . 33
4.5.2 Additions to synopsis . 33
4.5.3 Rounding modes . 34
4.5.4 The fe_dec_getround function . 34
4.5.5 The fe_dec_setround function . 35
4.5.6 Changes to . 35
4.6 Additions to and . 35
4.6.1 General . 35
4.6.2 Additions to header synopsis . 36
4.6.3 macros . 41
4.6.4 Evaluation formats . 41
4.6.5 samequantum functions . 42
4.6.6 quantexp functions . 42
4.6.7 quantize functions . 43
4.6.8 Elementary functions . 43
4.6.9 abs function overloads . 45
4.6.10 Changes to . 45
4.6.10.1 General . 45
4.6.10.2 Additions to header synopsis . 45
4.7 Additions to and . 45
4.8 Additions to and . 45
4.8.1 Additions to header synopsis . 45
4.8.2 strtod functions . 45
4.8.3 Changes to . 45
4.9 Additions to and . 46
4.9.1 Additions to synopsis . 46
4.9.2 wcstod functions . 46
4.9.3 Changes to . 46
4.10 Facets . 46
4.10.1 General . 46
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ISO/IEC TR 24733:2011(E)
4.10.2 Additions to header synopsis . 47
4.10.3 Class template extended_num_get . 47
4.10.3.1 extended_num_get members . 49
4.10.3.2 extended_num_get virtual functions . 50
4.10.4 Class template extended_num_put . 51
4.10.4.1 extended_num_put members . 52
4.10.4.2 extended_num_put virtual functions . 53
4.11 Type traits . 53
4.11.1 Addition to header synopsis . 53
4.11.2 is_decimal_floating_point type_trait . 54
4.12 Hash functions . 54
4.12.1 Additions to header synopsis . 54
4.12.2 Hash function specializations . 54
5 Notes on C compatibility . 55
5.1 General . 55
5.2 Literals . 55
5.3 Conversions . 55


© ISO/IEC 2011 – All rights reserved v

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ISO/IEC TR 24733:2011(E)
Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) and IEC (the International Electrotechnical
Commission) form the specialized system for worldwide standardization. National bodies that are
members of ISO or IEC participate in the development of International Standards through technical
committees established by the respective organization to deal with particular fields of technical activity.
ISO and IEC technical committees collaborate in fields of mutual interest. Other international
organizations, governmental and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO and IEC, also take part in the
work. In the field of information technology, ISO and IEC have established a joint technical committee,
ISO/IEC JTC 1.
International Standards are drafted in accordance with the rules given in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.
The main task of the joint technical committee is to prepare International Standards. Draft International
Standards adopted by the joint technical committee are circulated to national bodies for voting.
Publication as an International Standard requires approval by at least 75 % of the national bodies
casting a vote.
In exceptional circumstances, when the joint technical committee has collected data of a different kind
from that which is normally published as an International Standard (“state of the art”, for example), it
may decide to publish a Technical Report. A Technical Report is entirely informative in nature and shall
be subject to review every five years in the same manner as an International Standard.
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of
patent rights. ISO and IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
ISO/IEC TR 24733 was prepared jointly by Joint Technical Committee ISO/IEC JTC 1, Information
technology, Subcommittee SC 22, Programming languages, their environments and system software
interfaces.
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ISO/IEC TR 24733:2011(E)
Introduction
0.1 General
Most of today's general purpose computing architectures provide binary floating-point
arithmetic in hardware. Binary float-point is an efficient representation that minimizes
memory use, and is simpler to implement than floating-point arithmetic using other bases.
It has therefore become the norm for scientific computations, with almost all
implementations following the IEEE-754 standard for binary floating-point arithmetic.
However, human computation and communication of numeric values almost always uses
decimal arithmetic, and decimal notations. Laboratory notes, scientific papers, legal
documents, business reports and financial statements all record numeric values in decimal
form. When numeric data are given to a program or are displayed to a user, binary to-
and-from decimal conversion is required. There are inherent rounding errors involved in
such conversions; decimal fractions cannot, in general, be represented exactly by
floating-point values. These errors often cause usability and efficiency problems,
depending on the application.
These problems are minor when the application domain accepts, or requires results to
have, associated error estimates (as is the case with scientific applications). However, in
business and financial applications, computations are required either to be exact (with no
rounding errors) unless explicitly rounded, or to be supported by detailed analyses that
are auditable to be correct. Such applications therefore have to take special care in
handling any rounding errors introduced by the computations.
The most efficient way to avoid conversion error is to use decimal arithmetic.
Recognizing this, the IEEE 754-2008 Standard for Floating-Point Arithmetic specifies
decimal floating-point encodings and arithmetic. This technical report specifies
extensions to the International Standard for the C++ programming language to permit the
use of decimal arithmetic in a manner consistent with the IEEE 754-2008 standard.
0.2 Arithmetic model
This Technical Report is based on a model of decimal arithmetic which is a formalization
of the decimal system of numeration (algorism) as further defined and constrained by the
relevant standards, IEEE 854, ANSI X3-274, and IEEE 754-2008.
There are three components to the model:
• data- numbers and NaNs, which can be manipulated by, or be the results of, the
core operations defined in the model
• operations- (such as addition, multiplication, etc.) which can be carried out on
data
• context - the status of operations (namely, exceptions flags), and controls to
govern the results of operations (for example, rounding modes).
The model defines these components in the abstract. It defines neither the way in which
operations are expressed (which might vary depending on the computer language or other
interface being used), nor the concrete representation (specific layout in storage, or in a
processor's register, for example) of data or context.
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ISO/IEC TR 24733:2011(E)
From the perspective of the C++ language, data are represented by data types, operations
are defined within expressions, and context is the floating environment specified in
and . This Technical Report specifies how the C++ language
implements these components.
0.3 The formats
In the C++ International Standard, the representation of a floating-point number is
specified in an abstract form where the constituent components of the representation are
defined (sign, exponent, significand) but the internals of these components are not. In
particular, the exponent range, significand size and the base (or radix), are
implementation defined. This allows flexibility for an implementation to take advantage
of its underlying hardware architecture. Furthermore, certain behaviors of operations are
also implementation defined, for example in the area of handling of special numbers and
in exceptions.
This approach was inherited from the C programming language. At the time that C was
first standardized, there were already various hardware implementations of floating-point
arithmetic in common use. Specifying the exact details of a representation would make
most of the existing C implementations at the time not conforming.
This Technical Report specifies decimal floating-point arithmetic according to the
IEEE 754-2008 standard, with the constituent components of the representation defined.
This is more stringent than the approach taken for the floating-point types in the C++
standard. Since it is expected that all decimal floating-point hardware implementations
will conform to the IEEE 754-2008 standard, binding to this standard directly benefits
both implementers and programmers.

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TECHNICAL REPORT ISO/IEC TR 24733:2011(E)


Information technology — Programming languages,
their environments and system software interfaces —
Extensions for the programming language C++ to
support decimal floating-point arithmetic
1 Scope
This Technical Report specifies an extension to the programming language C++,
specified by ISO/IEC 14882:2003. The extension provides support for decimal floating-
point arithmetic that is consistent with the specification in IEEE 754-2008. Any conflict
between the requirements described here and that specification is unintentional.
The binary floating-point arithmetic specified in IEEE 754-2008 is not considered in this
Technical Report.
2 Normative references
The following referenced documents are indispensable for the application of this
document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references,
the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.

ISO/IEC 14882:2003, Programming languages — C++
ISO/IEC TR 19768:2007, Information technology — Programming languages —
Technical Report on C++ Library Extensions
ISO/IEC TR 24732:2009, Information technology — Programming languages, their
environments and system software interfaces — Extension for the programming language
C to support decimal floating-point arithmetic
IEEE 754-2008, IEEE Standard for Floating-Point Arithmetic

© ISO/IEC 2011 – All rights reserved 1

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ISO/IEC TR 24733:2011(E)
3 Conventions
3.1 General
This Technical Report is non-normative; the extensions that it describes may be
considered for inclusion in a future revision of the International Standard for C++, but
they are not currently required for conformance to that standard. Furthermore, it is
conceivable that a future revision of the International Standard will include facilities that
are similar and not identical to the extensions described in this report,
Although this report describes extensions to the C++ standard library, vendors may
choose to implement these extensions in the C++ language translator itself. This practice
is permitted so long as all well-formed programs are accepted by the implementation, and
the semantics of those programs which do not have undefined or implementation-defined
behavior are as if the extensions had taken the form of a library. [Note: This allows, for
instance, an implementation to produce a different result when the extension is
implemented in the C++ language translator, for programs that are ill-formed when the
extension is implemented as a library.]
The result of deriving a user-defined type from std::decimal::decimal32,
std::decimal::decimal64, or std::decimal::decimal128 is undefined.
3.2 Relation to C++ Standard Library Introduction
Unless otherwise specified, the whole of the ISO C++ Standard Library introduction
[lib.library] as specified in ISO/IEC 14882 is included into this Technical Report by
reference.
This Technical Report introduces the following elements to supplement those described
in [lib.structure.specifications] as specified in ISO/IEC 14882:
Expansion: the semantics of a macro's expansion text
Library Overload Set: an overload set for a given function name or overloaded
operator. Each library overload set specifies the parameter types for the required
overloads, and can be implemented as a suitably constrained function template, a set of
overloaded non-template functions, or a combination of both.
[Example:
Consider a library overload set with the following specification:
    decimal128 foo(decimal128 d, RHS rhs);
Library Overload Set: RHS may be any of the decimal floating-point
types.
Returns: d.
A possible implementation of this library overload set is:
    decimal128 foo(decimal128 d, decimal128) { return d; }
    decimal128 foo(decimal128 d, decimal64) { return d; }
    decimal128 foo(decimal128 d, decimal32) { return d; }

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ISO/IEC TR 24733:2011(E)
Another possible implementation of this library overload set is:
    template
    decimal128 foo(decimal128 d, RHS) { return d; }
In the latter implementation, the template type parameter RHS must be constrained to the
decimal floating-point types.
--end example]
3.3 Relation to "Technical Report on C++ Library Extensions"
Unless otherwise specified, the following sections of ISO/IEC Technical Report 19768:
"Technical Report on C++ Library Extensions" are included into this Technical Report by
reference:
• General [tr.intro]
• Metaprogramming and type traits [tr.meta]
• Additions to header synopsis [tr.unord.fun.syn]
• Class template hash [tr.unord.hash]
• C compatibility [tr.c99]
3.4 Categories of extensions
This technical report describes 4 categories of library extensions:
• New library components (types and functions) that are declared entirely in new
headers, such as the type decimal::decimal32 in the header.
• New library components declared as additions to existing standard headers, such
as the functions added to the headers and in subclause 4.6.
• New library components declared as additions to TR1 headers, such as the
template is_decimal_floating_point added to the header in
subclause 4.11.
• Additions to standard library components, such as the specializations of
std::numeric_limits in subclause 4.3.
New headers are distinguished from extensions to existing headers by the title of the
synopsis clause. In the first case the title is of the form "Header synopsis," and the
synopsis includes all namespace scope declarations contained in the header. In the second
case the title is of the form "Additions to header synopsis" and the synopsis
includes only the extensions, i.e. those namespace scope declarations that are not present
in ISO/IEC 14882 or ISO/IEC 19768.
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ISO/IEC TR 24733:2011(E)
3.5 Namespaces and headers
The extensions described in this technical report are declared within the namespace
decimal, which is nested inside the namespace std.
Unless otherwise specified, references to other entities described in this technical report
are assumed to be qualified with std::decimal::, references to entities described in the
C++ standard library are assumed to be qualified with std::, and references to entities
described in TR1 are assumed to be qualified with std::tr1::.
Even when an extension is specified as additions to standard headers (the second and
third categories in section 3.4), vendors should not simply add declarations to standard
headers in a way that would be visible to users by default [Note: That would fail to be
standard conforming, because the new names, even within a namespace, could conflict
with user macros. --end note] Users should be required to take explicit action to have
access to library extensions. It is recommended either that additional declarations in
standard headers be protected with a macro that is not defined by default, or else that all
extended headers, including both new headers and parallel versions of standard headers
with nonstandard declarations, be placed in a separate directory that is not part of the
default search path.

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ISO/IEC TR 24733:2011(E)
4 Decimal floating-point types
4.1 Characteristics of decimal floating-point types
This Technical Report introduces three decimal floating-point types, named decimal32,
decimal64, and decimal128. The set of values of type decimal32 is a subset of the set of
values of type decimal64; the set of values of the type decimal64 is a subset of the set of
values of the type decimal128. These types supplement the standard C++ types float,
double, and long double, which are collectively described as the basic floating types.
The three decimal encoding formats defined in IEEE 754-2008 correspond to the three
decimal floating types as follows:
• decimal32 is a decimal32 number, which is encoded in four consecutive octets (32
bits)
• decimal64 is a decimal64 number, which is encoded in eight consecutive octets
(64 bits)
• decimal128 is a decimal128 number, which is encoded in 16 consecutive octets
(128 bits)
sign exponent
The value of a finite number is given by (-1) x coefficient x 10 . Refer to IEEE
754-2008 for details of the format.
These formats are charac
...

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