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assemblyfloating-pointpowerpc

How to convert 64-bit int to float on 32-bit PowerPC?


I'm writing assembly on a 32-bit PowerPC system (specifically, a GameCube). I have a 64-bit integer that I need to convert to a floating-point number. How can I do this? Examples I can find online all involve the use of fcfid instruction, but this is only available on 64-bit systems.

The code so far is:

CALL  __OSGetSystemTime # -> u64 ticks in r3, r4
stw   r3, SP_FLOAT_TMP(r1)
stw   r4, (SP_FLOAT_TMP+4)(r1)
lfd   f1, SP_FLOAT_TMP(r1)
fcfid f1 # u64 -> double
frsp  f1 # double -> float

(CALL is a macro for position-independent bl)

The GNU Assembler gives an error:

Error building debugprint debugprint.s: Assembler messages:
debugprint.s:345: Error: unrecognized opcode: `fcfid'

Solution

  • I have not used PowerPC since the early 2000s, so I will present C code that outlines an algorithm that I think will be translatable into 32-bit PowerPC instructions. The basic idea is to split the 64-bit integer into two 32-bit halves comprising the most significant and least significant bits, respectively. Convert each half to a double using the magic-number addition technique. Combine the two resulting doubles using a fused multiply-add (FMA) operation, scaling the high half by 232. This incurs just a single rounding.

    Because this is a conversion of unsigned integers, the magic number we need here is 252. Construct the binary image of that number in memory, then place the 32-bit integer N into the least significant 32 bits. This creates the binary image of a double with the value 252+N. Load that double from memory, then subtract out 252, leaving N in the floating-point register. The result is exact.

    I have annotated the ISO-C99 code with the PowerPC instructions I think one would use to code this in assembly language.

    #include <stdio.h>
    #include <stdlib.h>
    #include <stdint.h>
    #include <string.h>  // for memcpy
    #include <math.h>    // for fma
    
    /* re-interpret a 64-bit unsigned integer in two halves as a double */
    double hilo_uint32_as_double (uint32_t hi, uint32_t lo)
    {
        double r;
        uint64_t t = ((uint64_t)hi << 32) + (uint64_t)lo;
        memcpy (&r, &t, sizeof r);
        return r;
    }
    
    double uint64_to_double (uint64_t a)
    {
        const double two_to_32 = 0x1.0p32;
        const double magic = hilo_uint32_as_double (0x43300000, 0); // 0x1.0p52
    
        /* split 64-bit number into two 32-bit halves */
        uint32_t hi = (uint32_t)(a >> 32);         // stw
        uint32_t lo = (uint32_t)(a & 0xffffffff);  // stw
        /* convert each 32-bit half into a double */
        double lof = hilo_uint32_as_double (0x43300000, lo) - magic; // stw, lfd, fsub
        double hif = hilo_uint32_as_double (0x43300000, hi) - magic; // stw, lfd, fsub
        /* combine halves with a single rounding */
        return fma (hif, two_to_32, lof); // fmadd
    }
    
    int main (void)
    {
        uint64_t a = 1234567890123456ULL;
        printf ("%llu -> %23.16e\n", a, uint64_to_double (a));
        return EXIT_SUCCESS;
    }