Re: [boost] A Boost.NumericAdaptor library to support big numbers

Subject: Re: [boost] A Boost.NumericAdaptor library to support big numbers
From: Paul A. Bristow (pbristow_at_[hidden])
Date: 2009-03-30 13:01:58

> -----Original Message-----
> From: boost-bounces_at_[hidden] [mailto:boost-bounces_at_[hidden]]
On
> Behalf Of Bruno Lalande
> Sent: 30 March 2009 15:56
> To: boost_at_[hidden]
> Subject: [boost] A Boost.NumericAdaptor library to support big numbers
> 
> Hello,
> 
> Barend quickly talked about this in the discussion about robustness,
> big numbers and GMP. We have discussed about the idea and I'd like to
> present it here to see if there's an interest.
> 
> The idea started from the need to rely on big numbers in geometry
> computations that are sensitive to floating point errors. The most
> important points were:
> - big numbers are needed for those computations
> - it's difficult to develop a Boost Big Numbers library as efficient
> as the existing ones
> - having a Boost geometry library that *necessarily* depends on an
> existing big numbers library would impose to the user the way in which
> big numbers must be handled, and would imply a dependency that
> apparently disturbs some people
> 
> Thus we had the idea of using an adaptor, that is a wrapper that would
> have the same semantics as a number, with an underlying implementation
> chosen at compile-time, by selecting a policy. There would be a IEEE
> policy that doesn't use any big number at all, and other policies that
> would be implemented upon the most widely used big numbers libraries.
> 
> In the end it appears that this adaptor could become a library on its
> own since it can be useful in other libraries than just geometry. It
> could thus take the form of a Boost.NumericAdaptor library, aimed to
> any library developer who needs to optionally enable the use of big
> numbers for the most robustness-sensible operations of his library. He
> would just have to take a policy as a template parameter, and
> propagate this policy to a Numeric Adaptor used internally. The first
> user of this library would obviously be the GGL we're developing.
> Libraries like the fixed-size matrix being currently discussed as a
> GSoC project could offer take advantage of this kind of library, since
> ideally it has to support big numbers.
> 
> The sample in attachment shows the numeric_adaptor, a IEEE policy, a
> GMP policy and a sample showing the use of the library. The
> implementation has to evolve of course, but the main points are here.
> 
> Would there be an interest in adding such a library into Boost?
> 
> Bruno Lalande
> Barend Gehrels

Yes - Sounds interesting - but the sample compiles - with a blizzard of
warnings :-((

I've used this gmp.h

#include "i:\boost-sandbox\SOC\2007\bigint\gmp-win32\gmp.h"

but fails to link for me.  (MSVC 2008 Sp1)

What am I also missing?

Paul

---
Paul A. Bristow
Prizet Farmhouse
Kendal, UK   LA8 8AB
[phone], mobile [phone]
pbristow_at_[hidden]
num_adaptor.obj : error LNK2019: unresolved external symbol
__imp____gmpf_clear referenced in function "public: static void __cdecl
gmp_policy::destruct(struct __mpf_struct (&)[1])"
(?destruct_at_gmp_policy@@SAXAAY00U__mpf_struct@@@Z)
num_adaptor.obj : error LNK2019: unresolved external symbol
__imp____gmpf_set referenced in function "public: static void __cdecl
gmp_policy::copy(struct __mpf_struct const (&)[1],struct __mpf_struct
(&)[1])" (?copy_at_gmp_policy@@SAXAAY00$$CBU__mpf_struct@@AAY00U2@@Z)
num_adaptor.obj : error LNK2019: unresolved external symbol
__imp____gmpf_cmp referenced in function "public: static int __cdecl
gmp_policy::compare(struct __mpf_struct const (&)[1],struct __mpf_struct
const (&)[1])" (?compare_at_gmp_policy@@SAHAAY00$$CBU__mpf_struct@@0_at_Z)
num_adaptor.obj : error LNK2019: unresolved external symbol
__imp____gmpf_init referenced in function "public: static void __cdecl
gmp_policy::init(struct __mpf_struct (&)[1])"
(?init_at_gmp_policy@@SAXAAY00U__mpf_struct@@@Z)
num_adaptor.obj : error LNK2019: unresolved external symbol
__imp____gmpf_add referenced in function "public: static void __cdecl
gmp_policy::add(struct __mpf_struct (&)[1],struct __mpf_struct const
(&)[1],struct __mpf_struct const (&)[1])"
(?add_at_gmp_policy@@SAXAAY00U__mpf_struct@@AAY00$$CBU2_at_1@Z)
num_adaptor.obj : error LNK2019: unresolved external symbol
__imp____gmpf_mul referenced in function "public: static void __cdecl
gmp_policy::multiply(struct __mpf_struct (&)[1],struct __mpf_struct const
(&)[1],struct __mpf_struct const (&)[1])"
(?multiply_at_gmp_policy@@SAXAAY00U__mpf_struct@@AAY00$$CBU2_at_1@Z)
num_adaptor.obj : error LNK2019: unresolved external symbol
__imp____gmpf_sub referenced in function "public: static void __cdecl
gmp_policy::subtract(struct __mpf_struct (&)[1],struct __mpf_struct const
(&)[1],struct __mpf_struct const (&)[1])"
(?subtract_at_gmp_policy@@SAXAAY00U__mpf_struct@@AAY00$$CBU2_at_1@Z)
num_adaptor.obj : error LNK2019: unresolved external symbol
__imp____gmpf_div referenced in function "public: static void __cdecl
gmp_policy::divide(struct __mpf_struct (&)[1],struct __mpf_struct const
(&)[1],struct __mpf_struct const (&)[1])"
(?divide_at_gmp_policy@@SAXAAY00U__mpf_struct@@AAY00$$CBU2_at_1@Z)
num_adaptor.obj : error LNK2019: unresolved external symbol
__imp____gmpf_sqrt referenced in function "public: static void __cdecl
gmp_policy::sqrt(struct __mpf_struct (&)[1],struct __mpf_struct const
(&)[1])" (?sqrt_at_gmp_policy@@SAXAAY00U__mpf_struct@@AAY00$$CBU2@@Z)
num_adaptor.obj : error LNK2019: unresolved external symbol
__imp____gmpf_set_d referenced in function "public: static void __cdecl
gmp_policy::set<double>(struct __mpf_struct (&)[1],double const &)"
(??$set_at_N@gmp_policy@@SAXAAY00U__mpf_struct@@ABN_at_Z)
num_adaptor.obj : error LNK2019: unresolved external symbol
__imp____gmpf_get_d referenced in function "public: static double __cdecl
gmp_policy::big_numeric_cast<double>(struct __mpf_struct const (&)[1])"
(??$big_numeric_cast_at_N@gmp_policy@@SANAAY00$$CBU__mpf_struct@@@Z)
J:\Cpp\num_adapter\num_adapter\Debug\num_adapter.exe : fatal error LNK1120:
11 unresolved externals
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