[boost] [boos] Re:(boost) Fixed point integer template library

From: Michael D. Crawford (crawford_at_[hidden])
Date: 2002-08-31 07:11:56

Having a boost fixed point library would be helpful for people wanting to do 
numerical applications on embedded systems.  Many CPU's commonly used for 
embedded applications do not have floating point hardware.  Of course you can do 
floating point in software but it is very slow and often has features that you 
don't need, like an enormous range of possible values.

The lack of a fixed-point decoder for Ogg Vorbis is sometimes cited as the 
reason there aren't any portable Ogg players yet.  I think one can license a 
proprietary one but there aren't any open source ones.  (Ogg is a patent and 
license-free audio compression format - http://www.xiph.org/ogg/vorbis/ )

Some guy who wrote a fixed-point MP3 decoder says he'd like to write an Ogg 
Vorbis decoder but he won't do it until the file format is specified.  So far 
the only documentation for the format is the source code to the floating point 
library.

There are probably lots of other people who might like to write a decoder 
without waiting for the file format, but of course doing so is very hard.  I 
can't speak for them but maybe a boost fixed-point library would make it enough 
easier that someone would actually write an Ogg decoder.

And quite aside from Ogg, there are lots of embedded applications that could use 
fixed-point.  C++ isn't held in very high esteem in the embedded world, I think 
unfairly - I think most embedded programmers who try C++ just don't know how to 
do it right.  I'm trying to get into embedded systems programming and would 
prefer using C++ for it when I can.

Mike
-- 
Michael D. Crawford
GoingWare Inc. - Expert Software Development and Consulting
http://www.goingware.com/
crawford_at_[hidden]
      Tilting at Windmills for a Better Tomorrow.