Vector Floating-Point Data Format

Memory has always been a major factor in determining the cost of a computer system. Many schemes have been proposed for reducing memory cost without degrading system performance or increasing system cost or complexity significantly. This paper presents a particular data type that may have been used occasionally by programmers who have had to simulate floating-point hardware by software. This new data type is useful in large scientific problems and may be able to serve as a replacement for floating-point data type on special-purpose processors. Its hardware implementation on orthogonal and pipeline processors is discussed in detail and the implications of these implementations for a programming language (APL) (Iverson's language) are examined.