RFC 401 (rfc401) - Page 2 of 2
Conversion of NGP-0 Coordinates to Device Specific Coordinates
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
Now factor S into two terms:
I
S= Q * 2
Where Q is an odd integer and I is an integer.
When: I n n
D = Q * 2 *(2 *f)/2 +S
I-n n
= Q * 2 *(2 *f) +S
n
The factor (2 *f) is represented in 2's complement form simply by
extending the sign bit of f into the upper portion of the computer
word, If Q = 1 (as it would be with many devices), it can be ignored.
If Q >< 1, we may console ourselves that an integer multiply is faster
on most machines than a floating point multiply. In fact, on a
PDP-10, this multiply can usually be performed with no access to
memory since Q is usually small.
I-n
We are now left with the 2 factor. This can be accomplished with an
arithmetic shift left by (I-n) or an arithmetic shift right by (n-I)
as is appropriate. The offset factor, S, may now be added using an
integer add.
The procedure for converting NGP coordinates to integer device
coordinates is then:
1. move coordinate to a register and extend sign
2. integer multiply by Q (if necessary)
3. arithmetic shift left by (I-n)
4. integer add S
This procedure would generally be much faster than:
1. move coordinate to register and extend sign
2. float fractional coordinate
3. floating point multiply
4. floating point add
5. conversion to fixed point
[ This RFC was put into machine readable form for entry ]
[ into the online RFC archives by BBN Corp. under the ]
[ direction of Alex McKenzie. 1/97 ]