2.9 Support for different numeric types
Many functions in the library are defined for different numeric types.
This feature is implemented by varying the name of the function with a
type-related modifier—a primitive form of C++ templates. The
modifier is inserted into the function name after the initial module
prefix. The following table shows the function names defined for all
the numeric types of an imaginary module gsl_foo with function
fn,
| | gsl_foo_fn double
gsl_foo_long_double_fn long double
gsl_foo_float_fn float
gsl_foo_long_fn long
gsl_foo_ulong_fn unsigned long
gsl_foo_int_fn int
gsl_foo_uint_fn unsigned int
gsl_foo_short_fn short
gsl_foo_ushort_fn unsigned short
gsl_foo_char_fn char
gsl_foo_uchar_fn unsigned char
|
The normal numeric precision double is considered the default and
does not require a suffix. For example, the function
gsl_stats_mean computes the mean of double precision numbers,
while the function gsl_stats_int_mean computes the mean of
integers.
A corresponding scheme is used for library defined types, such as
gsl_vector and gsl_matrix. In this case the modifier is
appended to the type name. For example, if a module defines a new
type-dependent struct or typedef gsl_foo it is modified for other
types in the following way,
| | gsl_foo double
gsl_foo_long_double long double
gsl_foo_float float
gsl_foo_long long
gsl_foo_ulong unsigned long
gsl_foo_int int
gsl_foo_uint unsigned int
gsl_foo_short short
gsl_foo_ushort unsigned short
gsl_foo_char char
gsl_foo_uchar unsigned char
|
When a module contains type-dependent definitions the library provides
individual header files for each type. The filenames are modified as
shown in the below. For convenience the default header includes the
definitions for all the types. To include only the double precision
header file, or any other specific type, use its individual filename.
| | #include <gsl/gsl_foo.h> All types
#include <gsl/gsl_foo_double.h> double
#include <gsl/gsl_foo_long_double.h> long double
#include <gsl/gsl_foo_float.h> float
#include <gsl/gsl_foo_long.h> long
#include <gsl/gsl_foo_ulong.h> unsigned long
#include <gsl/gsl_foo_int.h> int
#include <gsl/gsl_foo_uint.h> unsigned int
#include <gsl/gsl_foo_short.h> short
#include <gsl/gsl_foo_ushort.h> unsigned short
#include <gsl/gsl_foo_char.h> char
#include <gsl/gsl_foo_uchar.h> unsigned char
|
