Every Bit Counts – Why This Book Matters
For the past 40 years, floating-point numbers have barely changed. IEEE-754 has dominated everything, and no one really thought of doing it differently - except John Gustafson.
In essence, a standard float reserves bit patterns for special cases like "Not-a-Number" and has a fixed structure that is often inefficient for real-world data.
Gustafson’s posit format flips this on its head: The posit format reclaims those wasted bits and dynamically adjusts the number’s precision based on its magnitude. This results in a number system that is inherently more accurate and efficient for the same number of bits.
Posits solve weird edge cases that programmers have to work around - like program crashes due to division by a tiny number. This is because the posit number system is mathematically closed - every arithmetic operation produces a valid posit. They also enable mathematical operations that can give the same result regardless of order when using their native accumulator design.
His book, Every Bit Counts, is a must-read if you care about computing.
Every Bit Counts is more than a technical deep dive; it’s a compelling mix of history, theory, engineering, and advocacy. Gustafson doesn't just highlight problems in the current floating-point paradigm; he delivers a concrete, well-documented solution in the posit system. Richly illustrated and humorously written, his book is accessible to engineers and AI/HPC practitioners, and covers everything from foundational definitions to practical implementations and standards.
Why is this so exciting? Because Posits are not just an idea - They’re real. We can implement them as a near drop-in replacement for most computations, giving you better accuracy, smaller storage footprint, and lower energy costs. The only thing that might need extra care is your printf implementation.
This resonates deeply at NextSilicon. We’re also rethinking the foundation, with a different underlying architecture that is up to 10x faster, lower power, and the best part? 100% drop-in replacement for your workloads. No code rewrites. No porting. Just better performance.
If you care about performance, efficiency, and the future of computing, go buy this book. It will change how you think about numbers:
Get Every Bit Counts on Amazon
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About the Author:
Elad Raz is the founder and CEO of NextSilicon, a company pioneering a radically new approach to HPC architecture that drives the industry forward by solving its biggest, most fundamental problems.
