Re: [boost] [SoC] multi precision arithmetic library proposal.

From: Guillaume Melquiond (guillaume.melquiond_at_[hidden])
Date: 2006-05-01 10:40:34

Le lundi 01 mai 2006 à 10:41 +0100, John Maddock a écrit :
> > Yes, I think there would be a positive response to an SOC proposal in
> > this area.      You are correct, there is no multiprecision
> > arithmetic support in Boost now. However, be aware that there is some
> > prior work already in the boost sandbox.  You might want to have a
> > look at these links:
> 
> A big int should be too hard, an arbitary precision floating point arithmetc 
> type would be very welcome too.  That's harder as it needs std lib support 
> to be useful (exp, pow, log trig functions etc), so it's rather more work, 
> but then again the student has all summer right ? :-)

I am not sure what you mean by "arbitrary precision floating-point
arithmetic". There are two different approaches: arbitrary precision
arithmetic (accuracy-driven implementations) and multi-precision
floating-point arithmetic (precision-driven implementations). NTL falls
in the second category.

> The existing lib's in this area all have downsides: NTL is very reliable, 
> but is the most thread-unsafe code I've ever seen.  Lydia looks good but is 
> licence constrained, and doesn't really build on Win32.  Any others?

MPFR is a C multi-precision floating-point library. IRRAM and Reallib
are C++ arbitrary precision libraries.

Best regards,

Guillaume