Figure B–2: IEEE Trap Handling Behavior
Hardware
Traps to PALcode
PALcode
Traps to Operating System
Operating System
Traps to User IEEE Trap Handler
(IEEE Standard)
User Signal Handler
The
The IEEE number system is divided into finite and
The finites are normal numbers:
•
•The
•Denormals, +/– Infinity, Signaling NaN, Quiet NaN
Alpha hardware must treat minus zero operands and results as special cases, as required by the IEEE standard.
If the DNZ (denormal operands to zero) bit in the FPCR is set or if the OS completion handler is treating denormal operands as zero, then IEEE trap handling is done as if each denormal operand had the corresponding signed zero value.
Table
IEEE