Inference based condition code generation

A system for generating a condition code that depends upon a numerical output of a floating point operation for a processing pipeline, the system comprising:

• the processing pipeline configured to
• produce the numerical output based upon normalization and rounding steps of the processing pipeline;
• provide data for use in calculations to logic circuitry before any normalization and rounding steps are completed;
• the logic circuitry configured to
• determine a classification for the floating point operation of a received instruction, wherein the determine the classification includes determining that the floating point operation of the received instruction is one of a subtraction operation and an addition operation and wherein the data that is available from the processing pipeline includes an indication that both operands of the received instruction are zero, and wherein determine the classification includes determining that the floating point operation of the received instruction is an effective subtraction operation with a minuend and subtrahend and wherein the data that is available from the processing pipeline includes an indication that the minuend is equal to the subtrahend;
• calculate, in response to the classification and using condition determination logic, a value for the condition code by inferring from the provided data before the numerical output is available;
• and
• provide the value for the condition code to branch decision logic of the processing pipeline.