Hardware Podcasts

452: Numbers on Computers Are Weird

Embedded.fm · 15 Jun 2023 · 1h 11m · Episode 452

What this episode covers

Julia Evans, creator of Wizard Zines, explains how computers represent numbers, covering the binary structure of 64-bit floating-point numbers, the trade-offs between range and precision, and the implementation of two's complement for signed integers. She discusses the practical implications of these representations, such as the inexact nature of decimal fractions in binary, the complexity of printing floating-point values, and the use of fixed-point arithmetic (Q numbers) in embedded systems lacking hardware FPUs. The conversation also touches on her career transition to full-time technical writing, her use of tools like Affinity Designer and GDB, and her interactive 'playgrounds' like Memory Spy and messwithdns.com.

Most relevant to

early-stage companies

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Volta Labs
Products
Wizard Zines, Memory Spy, messwithdns.com, float.exposed, integer.exposed
Chips
Cortex-M0, Cortex-M4
Tools
Affinity Designer, GDB, OpenCV, TensorFlow

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