Re: [boost] Arbitrary precision arithmetic

Subject: Re: [boost] Arbitrary precision arithmetic
From: Jarrad Waterloo (jwaterloo_at_[hidden])
Date: 2009-08-18 08:50:58

Scott Johnson wrote:
> Greetings.
>
> This is my first post to the mailing list, so I'll try not to act stupid.
> :)
>
> The recent release of Boost (1.39.0), in the boost::rational library
> documentation, broadly hints at (and expresses a fond wish for) an
> arbitrary-precision integer ("bignum") library; however none currently
> exists within Boost.  There are numerous such libraries out in the wild
> (many targeted towards C); though some of them are under incompatible
> licenses.
>
> (One interesting starting point would be libtommath, by Tom St. Denis; it
> appears to be a pretty robust and functional C library; which now has a C++
> wrapper--albeit one that doesn't meet boost standards.  It also contains
> numerous other useful number-theoretic functions, many of which appear to
> not be dependeing on the underlying bigint type.  And it's in the public
> domain, or at least appears to be...)
>
> Searching through the mailing list, I've seen numerous references to
> creating such a thing, some of them dating back nearly ten years--but none
> yet seems to exist.  This is something, I think, which would be Really
> Useful to add to boost.  I wasn't able to locate any current boost project
> or proposal to create such a thing--though it's certainly possible I looked
> up the wrong keyword(s).
>
> So, my possibly impertinent newbie question:  Is anyone (seriously) working
> on such a thing, for inclusion in boost?  Are there any nasty (political)
> obstacles to such a thing being added?
>
> Thanks!
>
>   
I would love to have such a library and been begging for it for quite a 
while. I don't have much experience in assembly especially 32 bit 
assembly else I might have attempted this myself. Please if you do 
attempt this keep the following things in mind.
1) On the C++0x Standard Library wishlist (revision 5) found at 
http://www.open-std.org/JTC1/sc22/WG21/docs/papers/2005/n1901.html
there are these items
a) Infinite-precision integer arithmetic
b) Full-width integer operations
"a" is what you are referring to but it has a dependency for efficiency 
on "b" so it may be good to propose both libraries and split the work 
among multiple people. These also shows that their is great interest.
2) Don't limit yourself to cryptographic applications. Big numbers have 
applications in identification and other scientific fields. As such one 
might be perfectly content with fixed sized stack allocated [unsigned] 
int types. Ex. std::bitset<512> -> uint<512>
3) Think pluggable. Start with a standard C++ implementation even if it 
is slow as long as it work and then gradually, on latter releases, 
replace or allow choosing faster implementations. Who knows this might 
allow others to plug GMP or other implementations into it. [Consider 
virtual functions, function pointers, facets. Most in past conversations 
have offered strong resistance to virtual functions.]