Boost.Integer

Beman Dawes

Daryle Walker

Gennaro Prota

John Maddock

Distributed under the Boost Software License, Version 1.0. (See accompanying file LICENSE_1_0.txt or copy at http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt)

Table of Contents

Overview
Standard Integer Types
Integer Traits
Integer Type Selection
Integer Masks
Compile Time log2 Calculation
Compile time min/max calculation
History

Overview

Boost.Integer provides integer type support, particularly helpful in generic programming. It provides standard C99 integer types, such as might be found in <stdint.h>, without requiring that header. It provides the means to select an integer type based upon its properties, like the number of bits or the maximum supported value, as well as compile-time bit mask selection. There is a derivative of std::numeric_limits that provides integral constant expressions for min and max. Finally, it provides two compile-time algorithms: determining the highest power of two in a compile-time value; and computing min and max of constant expressions.

Component	Header	Purpose
Forward Declarations.	`<boost/integer_fwd.hpp>`	Forward declarations of classes and class templates - for use when just the name of a class is needed.
Standard Integer Types.	`<boost/cstdint.hpp>`	Provides typedef's based on the 1999 C Standard header `<stdint.h>`, wrapped in namespace boost. This implementation may #include the compiler supplied `<stdint.h>`, if present.
Integer Traits.	`<boost/integer_traits.hpp>`	Class template `boost::integer_traits`, derives from `std::numeric_limits` and adds `const_min` and `const_max` members.
Integer Type Selection.	`<boost/integer.hpp>`	Templates for integer type selection based on properties such as maximum value or number of bits: Use to select the type of an integer when some property such as maximum value or number of bits is known. Useful for generic programming.
Integer Masks.	`<boost/integer/integer_mask.hpp>`	Templates for the selection of integer masks, single or lowest group, based on the number of bits: Use to select a particular mask when the bit position(s) are based on a compile-time variable. Useful for generic programming.
Compile time log2 Calculation.	`<boost/integer/static_log2.hpp>`	Template for finding the highest power of two in a number: Use to find the bit-size/range based on a maximum value. Useful for generic programming.
Compile time min/max calculation.	`<boost/integer/static_min_max.hpp>`	Templates for finding the extrema of two numbers: Use to find a bound based on a minimum or maximum value. Useful for generic programming.