5. Methods and functions

In this chapter the most important algorithms provided by GiNaC will be described. Some of them are implemented as functions on expressions, others are implemented as methods provided by expression objects. If they are methods, there exists a wrapper function around it, so you can alternatively call it in a functional way as shown in the simple example:

    ...
    cout << "As method:   " << sin(1).evalf() << endl;
    cout << "As function: " << evalf(sin(1)) << endl;
    ...

The general rule is that wherever methods accept one or more parameters (arg1, arg2, …) the order of arguments the function wrapper accepts is the same but preceded by the object to act on (object, arg1, arg2, …). This approach is the most natural one in an OO model but it may lead to confusion for MapleV users because where they would type A:=x+1; subs(x=2,A); GiNaC would require A=x+1; subs(A,x==2); (after proper declaration of A and x). On the other hand, since MapleV returns 3 on A:=x^2+3; coeff(A,x,0); (GiNaC: A=pow(x,2)+3; coeff(A,x,0);) it is clear that MapleV is not trying to be consistent here. Also, users of MuPAD will in most cases feel more comfortable with GiNaC's convention. All function wrappers are implemented as simple inline functions which just call the corresponding method and are only provided for users uncomfortable with OO who are dead set to avoid method invocations. Generally, nested function wrappers are much harder to read than a sequence of methods and should therefore be avoided if possible. On the other hand, not everything in GiNaC is a method on class ex and sometimes calling a function cannot be avoided.