FPP

Introduction

BBC BASIC makes use of a floating-point arithmetic package, or FPP, to perform calculations and conversions between string and number forms. It uses all the Z80's general purpose registers, including IX, IY and the "alternate" (shadow) registers, but does not use the R register or the I register nor does it disable or enable interrupts or change the interrupt mode. It is fully interruptible.

The FPP requires no private or shared workspace, it uses registers and the stack for all working and temporary storage. Stack requirements should not exceed fifty bytes.

Operations provided

The FPP provides sixteen operations which take two numeric parameters and produce a numeric result (AND, DIV, EOR, MOD, OR, <=, <>, >=, <, =, >, +, -, *, / and ^), sixteen numeric functions (ABS, ACS, ASN, ATN, COS, DEG, EXP, INT, LN, LOG, NOT, RAD, SGN, SIN, SQR, TAN), four numeric constants (ZERO,

FONE, TRUE, PI), two numeric/string conversion routines (VAL, STR$), two format conversion routines (FIX, FLOAT) and two miscellaneous routines (TEST, COMPARE).

All numeric operations will accept either integer or floating-point parameters, converting where necessary. Returned values may be in integer or floating-point format, as appropriate.

Numeric range and precision

Integers are stored in 4 bytes, and may represent values from -2147483648 to +2147483647. Floating-point numbers are stored in 5 bytes (4 byte mantissa, 1 byte exponent) and may represent values from approximately ±5.9E-39 to ±3.4E38, with a resolution of about nine significant figures.

Considerable care has been taken in coding the FPP to preserve the greatest degree of accuracy consistent with the use of a 32-bit mantissa. However, complex operations such as the transcendental functions make use of several intermediate results, each of which is stored only with the normal precision. It is therefore possible for errors to accumulate and for the final result to be less accurate than would be desirable. This problem is aggravated in certain special cases, such as the logarithm of numbers close to 1. No guarantee can be given that the accuracy will be sufficient for any specific application. As always, in financial applications you are strongly advised to use only integer arithmetic.

Numeric representation

Details of the formats of integers and floating-point numbers may be found in the Format of Program and Variables in Memory appendix except that, in the case of the FPP, numbers are held in the processor's registers rather than in memory. Two floating-point numbers may be held in the registers at any one time, as follows:

Number 1Number 2
Mantissa MS byteHD
.LE
.H'D'
Mantissa LS byteL'E'
Exponent byteCB

As described in the Format of Program and Variables in Memory appendix integer values are denoted by the "exponent" (C or B register) being zero.

Interface details

All FPP operations are accessed via a common entry point, the operation required being specified by an 8-bit "operation code" passed in the A register. The entry point is the base address of the FPP code, &4087:

LD A,opcode
CALL fpp

The argument of a numeric function is passed in registers HLH'L'C and the result is returned in registers HLH'L'C. Operators (addition, multiplication etc.) each take two operands and return a single result. The operands are passed in HLH'L'C (left) and DED'E'B (right), and the result is returned in HLH'L'C. The result of TEST and COMPARE is returned in the A register.

For information on the register usage of the numeric/string conversion functions see the detailed descriptions.

Exception handling

If an operation completes without error it returns with the zero flag set and the carry flag reset. If an exception occurs during an operation it returns with the zero flag reset, the carry flag set and an error code in the A register. In this case the returned value in the other registers is meaningless.

The possible error codes (decimal) are as follows:

  1. Bad operation code
  2. Division by zero
  3. Too big
  4. -ve root
  5. Log range
  6. Accuracy lost
  7. Exp range

Registers affected

On return from the FPP, any or all of the following registers may have been altered:

The IY, SP and I registers are returned unchanged.

Details of FPP operations

Opcode Operation Description Parameters Results
0 AND Integer bitwise logical AND HLH'L'C & DED'E'B HLH'L'C (C = 0)
1 DIV Integer quotient after division HLH'L'C (left) DED'E'B (right) HLH'L'C (C = 0)
2 EOR Integer bitwise logical exclusive-OR HLH'L'C & DED'E'B HLH'L'C (C = 0)
3 MOD Integer remainder after division HLH'L'C (left) DED'E'B (right) HLH'L'C (C = 0)
4 OR Integer bitwise logical OR HLH'L'C & DED'E'B HLH'L'C (C = 0)
5 <= Test for less-than or equal-to HLH'L'C (left) DED'E'B (right) HLH'L'C (C = 0, HLH'L' = 0 FALSE or -1 TRUE)
6 <> Test for not equal to HLH'L'C & DED'E'B HLH'L'C (C = 0, HLH'L' = 0 FALSE or -1 TRUE)
7 >= Test for greater-than or equal-to HLH'L'C (left) DED'E'B (right) HLH'L'C (C = 0, HLH'L' = 0 FALSE or -1 TRUE)
8 < Test for less than HLH'L'C (left) DED'E'B (right) HLH'L'C (C = 0, HLH'L' = 0 FALSE or -1 TRUE)
9 = Test for equality HLH'L'C & DED'E'B HLH'L'C (C = 0, HLH'L' = 0 FALSE or -1 TRUE)
10 * Integer or floating-point multiplication HLH'L'C & DED'E'B HLH'L'C
11 + Integer or floating-point addition HLH'L'C & DED'E'B HLH'L'C
12 > Test for greater than HLH'L'C (left) DED'E'B (right) HLH'L'C (C = 0, HLH'L' = 0 FALSE or -1 TRUE)
13 - Integer or floating-point subtraction HLH'L'C (left) DED'E'B (right) HLH'L'C
14 ^ Integer or floating-point involution (raise to power) HLH'L'C (left) DED'E'B (right) HLH'L'C
15 / Floating-point division HLH'L'C (left) DED'E'B (right) HLH'L'C
16 ABS Absolute value HLH'L'C HLH'L'C
17 ACS Arc cosine (inverse cosine) HLH'L'C HLH'L'C (radians)
18 ASN Arc sine (inverse sine) HLH'L'C HLH'L'C (radians)
19 ATN Arc tangent (inverse tangent) HLH'L'C HLH'L'C (radians)
20 COS Cosine HLH'L'C (radians) HLH'L'C
21 DEG Convert radians to degrees HLH'L'C (radians) HLH'L'C (degrees)
22 EXP Exponential (raise e to the power of the argument) HLH'L'C HLH'L'C
23 INT Integer part (floor function) HLH'L'C HLH'L'C (C = 0)
24 LN Natural (Napierian) logarithm HLH'L'C HLH'L'C
25 LOG Base-10 (Common) logarithm HLH'L'C HLH'L'C
26 NOT Bitwise logical NOT (one's complement) HLH'L'C HLH'L'C (C = 0)
27 RAD Convert degrees to radians HLH'L'C (degrees) HLH'L'C (radians)
28 SGN Sign (signum) HLH'L'C HLH'L'C (=-1 if negative, =0 if zero, =+1 if positive; C = 0)
29 SIN Sine HLH'L'C (radians) HLH'L'C
30 SQR Square root HLH'L'C HLH'L'C
31 TAN Tangent HLH'L'C (radians) HLH'L'C
32 ZERO Return the floating-point & integer constant zero HL=&0000, H'L'=&0000, C=0
33 FONE Return the floating-point constant one HL=&0000, H'L'=&0000, C=&80
34 TRUE Return the integer constant minus one HL=&FFFF, H'L'=&FFFF, C=0
35 PI Return the floating-point constant PI HLH'L'C (= 3.141592654)
36 VAL Return the numeric value of a string IX addresses string in memory, terminated by a NUL HLH'L'C. If the string does not represent a number, 0 is returned. IX addresses the terminating character (not necessarily the NUL).
37 STR$ Return the string representation of a number
  • HLH'L'C = number to be converted
  • DE = destination address in memory for string
  • IX addresses format variable (@%), only (IX+1) & (IX+2) used
String stored in memory, DE addresses byte following last character
38 FIX Truncate a number to an integer HLH'L'C (if C=0 the number is returned unchanged) HLH'L'C (C = 0). The "too big" error may result.
39 FLOAT Convert an integer to floating-point format HLH'L'C (if C<>0 the number is returned unchanged) HLH'L'C
40 TEST Test a number for zero and sign HLH'L'C If zero, A=0; if positive A=&40; if negative A=&C0
41 COMPARE Compare two numeric values HLH'L'C (left) DED'E'B (right) If equal, A=0; If left>right A=&40; If left<right A=&C0