Re: [boost] [GSOC] summary of BigInt library details

Subject: Re: [boost] [GSOC] summary of BigInt library details
From: Scott McMurray (me22.ca+boost_at_[hidden])
Date: 2010-04-02 12:37:09

On 2 April 2010 04:21, Ankit Malpani <ankit.malpani_at_[hidden]> wrote:
> b) use a backend developed by me .(probably with the help non boost.math but
> standard c++ libraries)
>

Personally, I don't think that re-implementing well-known algorithms
for big integers is really what Boost is best suited for.  There are
plenty of implementations already out there, under a variety of
licenses, so I figure that most people should be able to find
something they can use and plug into a nice "Boosty" interface.

Looking at the overall Boost aim "to establish 'existing practice' and
provide reference implementations so that Boost libraries are suitable
for eventual standardization," I suspect that the thing eventually
standardized would be the interface -- function names, exception
behaviour, possibly some expression template properties, etc -- not
the details of how, say, division is performed.

YMMV,
~ Scott