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    <TD><FONT face=helvetica><B>Decimal Testcases</B></FONT>, version 2.09
      <BR><EM>Copyright (c) IBM Corporation, 2002. All rights reserved. ©</EM>
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    <TD vAlign=top align=right>3 Nov 2002</TD></TR>
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<H1><A name=intro><FONT face=helvetica
color=#006644>Introduction</FONT></A></H1>This document describes testcases
designed for testing implementations of the general purpose floating-point
arithmetic defined in the <B>General Decimal Arithmetic Specification</B>.<A
name=backref.1><A
href="dtintro.html#footnote.1"><FONT
size=3><SUP>[1]</SUP></FONT></A></A>&nbsp;
<P>These testcases are intended to be both language-independent and
representation-independent. They comprise individually identified tests, each
describing a single operation and its expected results. The tests are grouped
into files to make it easier to test a new implementation incrementally, and are
available at: <PRE>  <A href="http://www2.hursley.ibm.com/decimal/decTest.zip">http://www2.hursley.ibm.com/decimal/decTest.zip</A>
</PRE>The testcase files should be considered experimental (or ‘beta’), and may
contain errors. They are offered on an as-is basis. In particular, even passing
all the tests does not guarantee that an implementation complies with any
Standard or specification, because the tests are not exhaustive.
<P>Comments on this draft and the testcases are encouraged. Please send any
comments, suggestions, and corrections to the author, Mike Cowlishaw
(<TT>mfc@uk.ibm.com</TT>).
<P>For further background details, including specifications in various formats
and related decimal arithmetic links, please see the material at the associated
web site:<TT> <A
href="http://www2.hursley.ibm.com/decimal">http://www2.hursley.ibm.com/decimal</A>
</TT>
<P><A href="dtchange.html#changes">Appendix
A</A> summarizes the changes to this document since the first public draft.
<H4><FONT face=helvetica color=#006644>Acknowledgements</FONT></H4>The author is
indebted to Aahz and Tim Peters for their contributions to this document. In
addition, many people have contributed directly or indirectly to the testcases
themselves; special thanks are due to Brian Marks for his meticulous
investigations into different implementations of the base arithmetic.
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<FONT size=2>Footnotes:</FONT>
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    <TD><FONT size=2><A name=footnote.1><A
      href="dtintro.html#backref.1">[1]</A></A></FONT></TD>
    <TD><FONT size=2>See <TT><A
      href="decarith.html">http://www2.hursley.ibm.com/decimal/decarith.html</A>
      </TT></FONT></TD></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
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