Quiz submission record for quiz3-2-1 at Wed Jul  7 09:03:38 2004:

Your Answer for Question 1:
A security hole would be that someone could load some data and alter it from an int to a float.  Then when it is to be used, the program that needed an int won't be able to interpret the float.  It can be fixed if you attached a tag that said the type.  But the tradeoff would be that it would use some of the bits.

Your Answer for Question 2:
A subnormal floating point number would be a float that had a different format.  Usually floating points have the format 1.xxx*2^yyy. If there is a different format, then when the system follows its usual way of storing floats, it screws up the subnormal float.

Your Answer for Question 3:
in older machines 1.0 might not be regarded as a double because old machines did not have a guard bit.  So you might receive an int back if you used 1.0 - (some double).

Your Answer for Question 4:
If we follow the IEEE 754 standard, then all older machines/devices would be supported.  But if you follow the standards, new and better ideas may never develop because nobody would be able to get/see passed the invisible wall the standard puts up.


Your unique submission ID is quiz3-2-1-cs61c-av-1089216218-2423.