README (1220B)
1 NAME 2 libzahl - Big integer library 3 4 ETYMOLOGY 5 The bold uppercase 'Z' which represents the set of 6 all integers is derived from the german word 'Zahlen', 7 whose singular is 'Zahl'. 8 9 DESCRIPTION 10 libzahl is a C library for arbitrary size integers, 11 that aims to be usable for robust programs, and be 12 fast. 13 14 libzahl will accomplish this by using long jumps 15 when an error is detected, rather than letting the 16 caller also perform a check. This shall make the 17 code in the user program cleaner too. libzahl will 18 use dedicated temporary bignum integers whether 19 possible, and necessary, for its internal calculations. 20 libzahl will not deallocate allocations, but rather 21 cache them for reuse. 22 23 With the exception of functions working with strings, 24 all output parameters are before the input parameters. 25 26 RATIONALE 27 GMP MP cannot be used for robust programs. LibTomMath 28 is too slow, probably because of all memory allocations, 29 and has a nonintuitive API. TomsFastMath has an a 30 nonintuitive API, has limited precision (selected at 31 compile-time), and has limited functionality. All the 32 above are also bloated. Hebimath is promising, but I 33 think it can be done better. 34 35 NOTES 36 libzahl is currently not thread-safe.