Libzahl

NAME libzahl - Big integer library

ETYMOLOGY The bold uppercase 'Z' which represents the set of all integers is derived from the german word 'Zahlen', whose singular is 'Zahl'.

DESCRIPTION libzahl is a C library for arbitrary size integers, that aims to be usable for robust programs, and be fast.

libzahl will accomplish this by using long jumps
when an error is detected, rather than letting the
caller also perform a check. This shall make the
code in the user program cleaner too. libzahl will
use dedicated temporary bignum integers whether
possible, and necessary, for its internal calculations.
libzahl will not deallocate allocations, but rather
cache them for reuse.

With the exception of functions working with strings,
all output parameters are before the input parameters.

RATIONALE GMP MP cannot be used for robust programs. LibTomMath is too slow, probably because of all memory allocations, and has a nonintuitive API. TomsFastMath has an a nonintuitive API, has limited precision (selected at compile-time), and has limited functionality. All the above are also bloated. Hebimath is promising, but I think it can be done better.

NOTES libzahl is currently not thread-safe.