FORTRAN 77 on PDP-11

[Paul Koning]

>>>>> "Jerome" == Jerome H Fine <jhfinexgs2 at compsys.to> writes:

 Jerome> If the code could be written in FORTRAN, it would be fairly
 Jerome> simple.  Then common source code could be used.  But, even if
 Jerome> possible, FORTRAN is simply not structured to easily allow
 Jerome> multiple operations on succeeding values which are required
 Jerome> when adding carry bits between even two words, let alone 8 *
 Jerome> 16 bit words needed for 128 bit arithmetic.  Which means
 Jerome> coding in assembler!

Actually, carry is easy.  There's a simple trick I learned on the
Alpha, but it applies anywhere.

Given UNSIGNED variables:
      c = a + b;
      if (c < a)
      {   /* you got a carry */  }

Tweak as needed for signed.

 Jerome> Since I do NOT find that to be a problem, I am not very
 Jerome> concerned.  But in case there was already a library around, I
 Jerome> thought I would ask.

 Jerome> By the way, are there any standard algorithms for the 4 basic
 Jerome> operations (add, subtract, multiply and divide) for 128 bit
 Jerome> numbers which are composed of 8 * 16 bit words?  As per your
 Jerome> suggestion, I would probably use: CHARACTER * 16 ARRAY ( nnn
 Jerome> )

Knuth vol. 1 may help.  Reading GNU MP may also help, though that is
likely to be optimized for much bigger integers (1024 bits or more).

       paul