+int fc_get_buffer_length(void);
+/*}@*/
+
+void *fc_val_from_str(const char *str, unsigned int len, const ieee_descriptor_t *desc, void *result);
+
+/** get the representation of a floating point value
+ * This function tries to builds a representation having the same value as the
+ * float number passed.
+ * If the wished precision is less than the precision of LLDBL the value built
+ * will be rounded. Therefore only an approximation of the passed float can be
+ * expected in this case.
+ *
+ * @param l The floating point number to build a representation for
+ * @param desc The floating point descriptor
+ * @param result A buffer to hold the value built. If this is NULL, the internal
+ * accumulator buffer is used. Note that the buffer must be big
+ * enough to hold the value. Use fc_get_buffer_length() to find out
+ * the size needed
+ *
+ * @return The result pointer passed to the function. If this was NULL this returns
+ * a pointer to the internal accumulator buffer
+ */
+fp_value *fc_val_from_ieee754(LLDBL l, const ieee_descriptor_t *desc, fp_value *result);
+
+/** retrieve the float value of an internal value
+ * This function casts the internal value to LLDBL and returns a LLDBL with
+ * that value.
+ * This implies that values of higher precision than LLDBL are subject to
+ * rounding, so the returned value might not the same than the actually
+ * represented value.
+ *
+ * @param val The representation of a float value
+ *
+ * @return a float value approximating the represented value
+ */
+LLDBL fc_val_to_ieee754(const fp_value *val);
+
+/** cast a value to another precision
+ * This function changes the precision of a float representation.
+ * If the new precision is less than the original precision the returned
+ * value might not be the same as the original value.
+ *
+ * @param val The value to be casted
+ * @param desc The floating point descriptor
+ * @param result A buffer to hold the value built. If this is NULL, the internal
+ * accumulator buffer is used. Note that the buffer must be big
+ * enough to hold the value. Use fc_get_buffer_length() to find out
+ * the size needed
+ * @return The result pointer passed to the function. If this was NULL this returns
+ * a pointer to the internal accumulator buffer
+ */
+fp_value *fc_cast(const fp_value *val, const ieee_descriptor_t *desc, fp_value *result);
+
+/*@{*/
+/** build a special float value
+ * This function builds a representation for a special float value, as indicated by the
+ * function's suffix.
+ *
+ * @param desc The floating point descriptor
+ * @param result A buffer to hold the value built. If this is NULL, the internal
+ * accumulator buffer is used. Note that the buffer must be big
+ * enough to hold the value. Use fc_get_buffer_length() to find out
+ * the size needed
+ * @return The result pointer passed to the function. If this was NULL this returns
+ * a pointer to the internal accumulator buffer
+ */
+fp_value *fc_get_min(const ieee_descriptor_t *desc, fp_value *result);
+fp_value *fc_get_max(const ieee_descriptor_t *desc, fp_value *result);
+fp_value *fc_get_snan(const ieee_descriptor_t *desc, fp_value *result);
+fp_value *fc_get_qnan(const ieee_descriptor_t *desc, fp_value *result);
+fp_value *fc_get_plusinf(const ieee_descriptor_t *desc, fp_value *result);
+fp_value *fc_get_minusinf(const ieee_descriptor_t *desc, fp_value *result);
+/*@}*/
+
+int fc_is_zero(const fp_value *a);
+int fc_is_negative(const fp_value *a);
+int fc_is_inf(const fp_value *a);
+int fc_is_nan(const fp_value *a);
+int fc_is_subnormal(const fp_value *a);
+
+fp_value *fc_add(const fp_value *a, const fp_value *b, fp_value *result);
+fp_value *fc_sub(const fp_value *a, const fp_value *b, fp_value *result);
+fp_value *fc_mul(const fp_value *a, const fp_value *b, fp_value *result);
+fp_value *fc_div(const fp_value *a, const fp_value *b, fp_value *result);
+fp_value *fc_neg(const fp_value *a, fp_value *result);
+fp_value *fc_int(const fp_value *a, fp_value *result);
+fp_value *fc_rnd(const fp_value *a, fp_value *result);
+
+char *fc_print(const fp_value *a, char *buf, int buflen, unsigned base);
+
+/** Compare two values
+ * This function compares two values
+ *
+ * @param a Value No. 1
+ * @param b Value No. 2
+ * @result The returned value will be one of
+ * -1 if a < b
+ * 0 if a == b
+ * 1 if a > b
+ * 2 if either value is NaN
+ */
+int fc_comp(const fp_value *a, const fp_value *b);
+
+/**
+ * Converts an floating point value into an integer value.
+ */
+int fc_flt2int(const fp_value *a, void *result, ir_mode *dst_mode);
+
+/**
+ * Returns non-zero if the mantissa is zero, i.e. 1.0Exxx
+ */
+int fc_zero_mantissa(const fp_value *value);
+
+/**
+ * Returns the exponent of a value.
+ */
+int fc_get_exponent(const fp_value *value);
+
+/**
+ * Return non-zero if a given value can be converted lossless into another precision.
+ */
+int fc_can_lossless_conv_to(const fp_value *value, const ieee_descriptor_t *desc);
+
+/** Set new rounding mode
+ * This function sets the rounding mode to one of the following, returning
+ * the previously set rounding mode.
+ * FC_TONEAREST (default):
+ * Any unrepresentable value is rounded to the nearest representable
+ * value. If it lies in the middle the value with the least significant
+ * bit of zero is chosen (the even one).
+ * Values too big to represent will round to +/-infinity.
+ * FC_TONEGATIVE
+ * Any unrepresentable value is rounded towards negative infinity.
+ * Positive values too big to represent will round to the biggest
+ * representable value, negative values too small to represent will
+ * round to -infinity.
+ * FC_TOPOSITIVE
+ * Any unrepresentable value is rounded towards positive infinity
+ * Negative values too small to represent will round to the biggest
+ * representable value, positive values too big to represent will
+ * round to +infinity.
+ * FC_TOZERO
+ * Any unrepresentable value is rounded towards zero, effectively
+ * chopping off any bits beyond the mantissa size.
+ * Values too big to represent will round to the biggest/smallest
+ * representable value.
+ *
+ * These modes correspond to the modes required by the IEEE-754 standard.
+ *
+ * @param mode The new rounding mode. Any value other than the four
+ * defined values will have no effect.
+ * @return The previous rounding mode.
+ *
+ * @see fc_get_rounding_mode()
+ * @see IEEE754, IEEE854 Floating Point Standard
+ */
+fc_rounding_mode_t fc_set_rounding_mode(fc_rounding_mode_t mode);
+
+/** Get the rounding mode
+ * This function retrieves the currently used rounding mode
+ *
+ * @return The current rounding mode
+ * @see fc_set_rounding_mode()
+ */
+fc_rounding_mode_t fc_get_rounding_mode(void);
+
+/** Get bit representation of a value
+ * This function allows to read a value in encoded form, byte wise.
+ * The value will be packed corresponding to the way used by the IEEE
+ * encoding formats, i.e.
+ * One bit sign
+ * exp_size bits exponent + bias
+ * mant_size bits mantissa, without leading 1
+ *
+ * As in IEEE, an exponent of 0 indicates a denormalized number, which
+ * implies a most significant bit of zero instead of one; an exponent
+ * of all ones (2**exp_size - 1) encodes infinity if the mantissa is
+ * all zeros, else Not A Number.
+ *
+ * @param val A pointer to the value. If NULL is passed a copy of the
+ * most recent value passed to this function is used, saving the
+ * packing step. This behavior may be changed in the future.
+ * @param num_bit The maximum number of bits to return. Any bit beyond
+ * num_bit will be returned as zero.
+ * @param byte_ofs The byte index to read, 0 is the least significant
+ * byte.
+ * @return 8 bits of encoded data
+ */
+unsigned char fc_sub_bits(const fp_value *val, unsigned num_bit, unsigned byte_ofs);