1. An article of manufacture comprising: at least one computer usable medium having computer readable program code logic to execute a machine instruction in a central processing unit, said computer readable program code logic when executing performing the following: obtaining a machine instruction for execution, the machine instruction being defined for computer execution according to a computer architecture, the machine instruction comprising an opcode, one register field, and another register field; and performing a convert from function defined by the opcode of the machine instruction, said convert from function comprising: converting a value in an entity designated by the register field from one format to a decimal floating point format, wherein the converting comprises: creating a working format of the value, said working format being different from the decimal floating point format; and using the working format to produce the value in the decimal floating point format; and placing a result of the converting in another entity designated by the another register field.