Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
In computing, a roundoff error, [1] also called rounding error, [2] is the difference between the result produced by a given algorithm using exact arithmetic and the result produced by the same algorithm using finite-precision, rounded arithmetic. [3]
For example, an addition may produce an arithmetic overflow (it does not fulfill its contract of computing a good approximation to the mathematical sum); or a routine may fail to meet its postcondition. Exception: an abnormal event occurring during the execution of a routine (that routine is the "recipient" of
The computer may also offer facilities for splitting a product into a digit and carry without requiring the two operations of mod and div as in the example, and nearly all arithmetic units provide a carry flag which can be exploited in multiple-precision addition and subtraction. This sort of detail is the grist of machine-code programmers, and ...
Variable-length arithmetic operations are considerably slower than fixed-length format floating-point instructions. When high performance is not a requirement, but high precision is, variable length arithmetic can prove useful, though the actual accuracy of the result may not be known.
Structured programming is a programming paradigm aimed at improving the clarity, quality, and development time of a computer program by making specific disciplined use of the structured control flow constructs of selection (if/then/else) and repetition (while and for), block structures, and subroutines.
(The term "exception" as used in IEEE 754 is a general term meaning an exceptional condition, which is not necessarily an error, and is a different usage to that typically defined in programming languages such as a C++ or Java, in which an "exception" is an alternative flow of control, closer to what is termed a "trap" in IEEE 754 terminology.)
Exception chaining, or exception wrapping, is an object-oriented programming technique of handling exceptions by re-throwing a caught exception after wrapping it inside a new exception. The original exception is saved as a property (such as cause) of the new exception. The idea is that a method should throw exceptions defined at the same ...
Most assembly languages will have a macro instruction or an interrupt address available for the particular system to intercept events such as illegal op codes, program check, data errors, overflow, divide by zero, and other such.