NAME

Math::NV - compare the NV values that perl assigns with C and MPFR

DESCRIPTION

   use Math::NV qw(:all);
   $bool = is_eq('1e-298');
   $bool = is_eq_mpfr('1e-298'); # iff Math::MPFR is available

    If $bool is true, this suggests there is quite possibly no bug
    in the assignment of the specified value.
    If $bool is false, this implies that at least one of perl && C
    (wrt is_eq) or mpfr (wrt is_eq_mpfr) suffer a bug in assigning
    the specified value.
    IME, it's perl that's usually wrong - though I've struck buggy
    assignments with C.
    I've not yet found a case where mpfr assigns incorrectly - and
    I firmly expect that I won't ever find such a bug with that
    library.

    All mpfr values are assigned with a rounding mode of "to nearest,
    ties to even". (This could be made configurable if requested.)

FUNCTIONS

   $bool = is_eq($str);

     Returns true if the value perl assigns to an NV from the string
     $str is equal to the value C assigns to the C type specified by
     $Config{nvtype} from the same string.
     Else returns false - which implies that either perl or C is buggy
     in its assignment of that value. (Or they could both be buggy.)

   $bool = is_eq_mpfr($str);

     Returns true if the value perl assigns from the string $str is
     equal to the value mpfr assigns from the same string.
     Else returns false - which implies that either perl or mpfr is
     buggy in its assignment of that value. (Or they could both be
     buggy - though it's very unlikely that mpfr suffers such a bug.)

   $nv = nv($str);        # scalar context
   ($nv, $iv) = nv($str); # list context

    On perls whose NV is a C "double", assigns to $nv the value that
    the C standard library function strtod($str) assigns.
    On perls whose NV is a C "long double", assigns to $nv the value
    that the C standard library function strtold($str) assigns.
    On perls whose NV is a C "__float128", assigns to $nv the value
    that the C standard library function strtofloat128($str) assigns.
    In list context, also returns the number of characters that were
    unparsed (ignored).
    Generally you'll want $str to be a string - eg the string "2.3",
    rather than the NV 2.3. Failure to adhere to this will result in
    a warning - though you can disable this warning by setting
    $Math::NV::no_warn to 1.

   $hex = nv_mpfr($str, [$bits]);

    If $bits is not specified, it will be set to the value returned by
    mant_dig() - which is the appropriate value for the current perl
    that is being run.
    Valid values for $bits are 53 (double), 64 (long double), 106
    (double-double) and 113 (__float128). Other values will cause an
    error.
    Uses the mpfr library to assign the value represented by $str as a
    double or long double or double-double or __float128 (as determined
    by the value of $bits). It then returns a hex dump of the bytes that
    make up that C data type.

    For example, nv_mpfr('1e+127', 53) returns 5a4d8ba7f519c84f.
    This is the same as should be returned by
    scalar(reverse(unpack("h*", pack("d<", 1e+127))))
    except that, on my Windows machine, it returns 5a4d8ba7f519c851 .
    (Yes, perl's assignment of that value is out by 2 ULP's.)

    For the double-double, the returned scalar is a reference to a list
    that contains 2 elements - the hex dump of the most significant
    double, and the hex dump of the least siginificant double.
    For all other types, the returned scalar contains the hex dump
    of the given value.
    The enticement to use this function in preference to nv() is
    twofold:
    1) mpfr reliably sets floating point values correctly (whereas C is
       more likely to suffer bugs);
    2) nv_mpfr() can provide hex dumps for any of the four data types
       (double, long double, double-double and __float128), whereas nv()
       returns only the value for whichever data type is specified by
       $Config{nvtype}.

    Note, however, that for nv_mpfr() to return the hex form of the
    __float128 type, the mpfr library (as used by Math::MPFR) needs to have
    been built using the configure option --enable-float128, and this
    configure option is only available with mpfr-3.2.0 or later.

    As is the case with nv(), you'll generally want $str to be a string.
    For example, specify the string "2.3", rather than the NV 2.3.
    Failure to adhere to this will result in a warning - though you can
    disable this warning by setting $Math::NV::no_warn to 1.

   $nv_type = nv_type();

    Returns "double", "long double", or "__float128" depending upon
    the way perl has been configured.
    The expectation is that it returns the same as $Config{nvtype}.
    (Please file a bug report if you find otherwise.)

   $digits = mant_dig();

    Returns the number of bits the NV mantissa contains. This is
    normally 53 if nv_type() is double - otherwise usually (but by no
    means always) 64.
    It returns the value of the C macro DBL_MANT_DIG, LDBL_MANT_DIG,
    or FLT128_MANT_DIG depending upon whichever is appropriate for
    perl's configuration.

   ($mantissa, $exponent, $precision) = ld2binary($nv);

    Uses code taken from tests/tset_ld.c in the mpfr library source
    and returns a base 2 representation of the value contained in the
    NV $nv - irrespective of whether the NV type ($Config{nvtype}) is
    double, long double or __float128.
    $mantissa is the mantissa (significand).
    $exponent is the exponent.
    $precision is the precision (in bits) of the mantissa - trailing
    zero bits are not counted.


   ($mantissa, $exponent, $precision) = ld_str2binary($str);

    Uses code taken from tests/tset_ld.c in the mpfr library source
    and returns a base 2 representation of the value of the NV
    represented by the string $str - irrespective of whether the NV
    type ($Config{nvtype}) is double, long double or __float128.
    $mantissa is the mantissa (significand).
    $exponent is the exponent.
    $precision is the precision (in bits) of the mantissa - trailing
    zero bits are not counted.

   $nv = bin2val($mantissa, $exponent, $precision);

    Takes the return values of ld_str2binary() or ld2binary() and
    returns the original NV. (Probably doesn't work if the original
    NV is an inf or a nan.)

   Cprintf($fmt, $nv);
    Uses C's printf() function to format the NV $nv, according to the
    formatting specified by the string $fmt.

   $string = Csprintf($fmt, $nv, $buffer_size);
    Uses C's sprintf() function to format the NV $nv, according to the
    formatting specified by the string $fmt - and returns the result to
    $string. It's the responsibility of the caller to ensure that
    $buffer_size specifies a large enough number of characters to
    accommodate C's sprintf formatting of $nv.

PACKAGE VARIABLES

   $Math::NV::no_mpfr

    At startup, NV.pm runs "eval{require Math::MPFR;};".
    $Math::NV::no_mpfr is automatically set to 0 (if Math::MPFR loads)
    or to $@ (if Math::MPFR fails to load).
    Can subsequently be overwritten by assigning directly to it.

   $Math::NV::no_warn

    Initially set to 0 - which means that if either nv(), nv_mpfr(),
    is_eq() or is_eq_mpfr() are handed an argument that is not a string,
    then a warning will be emitted.
    To disable this warning, simply assign 1 (or any other true numeric
    value) to this variable.

LICENSE

   This program is free software; you may redistribute it and/or modify
   it under the same terms as Perl itself.
   Copyright 2013-15 Sisyphus

AUTHOR

   Sisyphus <sisyphus at(@) cpan dot (.) org>