package bignum;
require 5.005;
-$VERSION = '0.13';
+$VERSION = '0.17';
use Exporter;
@EXPORT_OK = qw( );
@EXPORT = qw( inf NaN );
if (defined $_[0])
{
Math::BigInt->$name($_[0]);
- Math::BigFloat->$name($_[0]);
+ return Math::BigFloat->$name($_[0]);
}
return Math::BigInt->$name();
};
my $self = shift;
# some defaults
- my $lib = 'Calc';
+ my $lib = '';
my $upgrade = 'Math::BigFloat';
my $downgrade = 'Math::BigInt';
}
require Math::BigInt if $_lite == 0; # not already loaded?
$class = 'Math::BigInt'; # regardless of MBIL or not
- }
+ }
+ push @import, 'lib' => $lib if $lib ne '';
# Math::BigInt::Trace or plain Math::BigInt
- $class->import(@import, upgrade => $upgrade, lib => $lib);
+ $class->import(@import, upgrade => $upgrade);
if ($trace)
{
Don't worry if it says Math::BigInt::Lite, bignum and friends will use Lite
if it is installed since it is faster for some operations. It will be
-automatically upgraded to BigInt whenever neccessary:
+automatically upgraded to BigInt whenever necessary:
perl -Mbignum -le 'print ref(2**255)'
This also means it is a bad idea to check for some specific package, since
the actual contents of $x might be something unexpected. Due to the
-transparent way of bignum C<ref()> should not be neccessary, anyway.
+transparent way of bignum C<ref()> should not be necessary, anyway.
Since Math::BigInt and BigFloat also overload the normal math operations,
the following line will still work:
perl -Mbignum -le 'for (1..2) { print ref($_); }'
-=head2 OPTIONS
+=head2 Options
bignum recognizes some options that can be passed while loading it via use.
The options can (currently) be either a single letter form, or the long form.
This prints out the name and version of all modules used and then exits.
- perl -Mbignum=v -e ''
+ perl -Mbignum=v
-=head2 METHODS
+=head2 Methods
Beside import() and AUTOLOAD() there are only a few other methods.
the fxxx() notation, though. This makes it possible that the underlying object
might morph into a different class than BigFloat.
+=head2 Caveat
+
+But a warning is in order. When using the following to make a copy of a number,
+only a shallow copy will be made.
+
+ $x = 9; $y = $x;
+ $x = $y = 7;
+
+If you want to make a real copy, use the following:
+
+ $y = $x->copy();
+
+Using the copy or the original with overloaded math is okay, e.g. the
+following work:
+
+ $x = 9; $y = $x;
+ print $x + 1, " ", $y,"\n"; # prints 10 9
+
+but calling any method that modifies the number directly will result in
+B<both> the original and the copy being destroyed:
+
+ $x = 9; $y = $x;
+ print $x->badd(1), " ", $y,"\n"; # prints 10 10
+
+ $x = 9; $y = $x;
+ print $x->binc(1), " ", $y,"\n"; # prints 10 10
+
+ $x = 9; $y = $x;
+ print $x->bmul(2), " ", $y,"\n"; # prints 18 18
+
+Using methods that do not modify, but testthe contents works:
+
+ $x = 9; $y = $x;
+ $z = 9 if $x->is_zero(); # works fine
+
+See the documentation about the copy constructor and C<=> in overload, as
+well as the documentation in BigInt for further details.
+
=over 2
=item inf()
-A shortcut to return Math::BigInt->binf(). Usefull because Perl does not always
+A shortcut to return Math::BigInt->binf(). Useful because Perl does not always
handle bareword C<inf> properly.
=item NaN()
-A shortcut to return Math::BigInt->bnan(). Usefull because Perl does not always
+A shortcut to return Math::BigInt->bnan(). Useful because Perl does not always
handle bareword C<NaN> properly.
=item upgrade()
=head1 AUTHORS
-(C) by Tels L<http://bloodgate.com/> in early 2002.
+(C) by Tels L<http://bloodgate.com/> in early 2002, 2003.
=cut