Quiz submission record for quiz3-2-1 at Tue Jul  6 21:08:55 2004:

Your Answer for Question 1:
Since data also represents the machine instructions, one could possibly change the data that represents the machine instructions and cause programs to do unexpected things. Hiding data access from the user is one possible technique, but this means that a user would have to make sure that the computer works with data correctly since the user cannot access data once the program runs. 

Your Answer for Question 2:
A subnormal is a number that is not normalized (normalized is a number that has no leading 0s). It is important because a normalized number has three advantages. It simplifies exchange of data that includes floating-point numbers; it simplifies the floating-point arithmetic algorithms to know that number will always be in this form; and it increases the accuracy of the numbers that can be stored in a word, since the unnecessary leading 0s are replaced by real digits to the right of the binary point.

Your Answer for Question 3:
Since old systems lacked a guard digit in double precision, when someone tried to do 1.0 - x, subtraction dropped off the last digit of x before computing the actual result.

Your Answer for Question 4:
Basically, the strongest argument for sticking to the standard would be that the standard would already be in widespread use, and conforming to as much of the standard as possible would make the upgrade to the next generation smoother.

However, sticking to the standard also means you are victim to the problems of that old standard, many times, a new standard is created to fix the problems of the old one. So, a balance much be achieved, trying your best to take the good properties of the old standard while eliminating the bad ones.


Your unique submission ID is quiz3-2-1-cs61c-ev-1089173335-2494.