base/numerics

This directory contains a dependency-free, header-only library of templates providing well-defined semantics for safely handling a variety of numeric operations, including most common arithmetic operations and conversions.

The public API is broken out into the following header files:

  • checked_math.h contains the CheckedNumeric template class and helper functions for performing arithmetic and conversion operations that detect errors and boundary conditions (e.g. overflow, truncation, etc.).
  • clamped_math.h contains the ClampedNumeric template class and helper functions for performing fast, clamped (i.e. non-sticky saturating) arithmetic operations and conversions.
  • safe_conversions.h contains the StrictNumeric template class and a collection of custom casting templates and helper functions for safely converting between a range of numeric types.
  • safe_math.h includes all of the previously mentioned headers.

Note: The Numeric template types implicitly convert from C numeric types and Numeric templates that are convertable to an underlying C numeric type. The conversion priority for Numeric type coercions is:

  • StrictNumeric coerces to ClampedNumeric and CheckedNumeric
  • ClampedNumeric coerces to CheckedNumeric

Conversion functions and StrictNumeric<> in safe_conversions.h

This header includes a collection of helper constexpr templates for safely performing a range of conversions, assignments, and tests.

Safe casting templates

  • as_signed() - Returns the supplied integral value as a signed type of the same width.
  • as_unsigned() - Returns the supplied integral value as an unsigned type of the same width.
  • checked_cast<>() - Analogous to static_cast<> for numeric types, except that by default it will trigger a crash on an out-of-bounds conversion (e.g. overflow, underflow, NaN to integral) or a compile error if the conversion error can be detected at compile time. The crash handler can be overridden to perform a behavior other than crashing.
  • saturated_cast<>() - Analogous to static_cast for numeric types, except that it returns a saturated result when the specified numeric conversion would otherwise overflow or underflow. An NaN source returns 0 by default, but can be overridden to return a different result.
  • strict_cast<>() - Analogous to static_cast for numeric types, except this causes a compile failure if the destination type is not large enough to contain any value in the source type. It performs no runtime checking and thus introduces no runtime overhead.

Other helper and conversion functions

  • IsValueInRangeForNumericType<>() - A convenience function that returns true if the type supplied to the template parameter can represent the value passed as an argument to the function.
  • IsValueNegative() - A convenience function that will accept any arithmetic type as an argument and will return whether the value is less than zero. Unsigned types always return false.
  • SafeUnsignedAbs() - Returns the absolute value of the supplied integer parameter as an unsigned result (thus avoiding an overflow if the value is the signed, two's complement minimum).

StrictNumeric<>

StrictNumeric<> is a wrapper type that performs assignments and copies via the strict_cast template, and can perform valid arithmetic comparisons across any range of arithmetic types. StrictNumeric is the return type for values extracted from a CheckedNumeric class instance. The raw numeric value is extracted via static_cast to the underlying type or any type with sufficient range to represent the underlying type.

  • MakeStrictNum() - Creates a new StrictNumeric from the underlying type of the supplied arithmetic or StrictNumeric type.
  • SizeT - Alias for StrictNumeric<size_t>.

CheckedNumeric<> in checked_math.h

CheckedNumeric<> implements all the logic and operators for detecting integer boundary conditions such as overflow, underflow, and invalid conversions. The CheckedNumeric type implicitly converts from floating point and integer data types, and contains overloads for basic arithmetic operations (i.e.: +, -, *, / for all types and %, <<, >>, &, |, ^ for integers). Type promotions are a slightly modified version of the standard C/C++ numeric promotions with the two differences being that there is no default promotion to int and bitwise logical operations always return an unsigned of the wider type.

Members

The unary negation, increment, and decrement operators are supported, along with the following unary arithmetic methods, which return a new CheckedNumeric as a result of the operation:

  • Abs() - Absolute value.
  • UnsignedAbs() - Absolute value as an equal-width unsigned underlying type (valid for only integral types).
  • Max() - Returns whichever is greater of the current instance or argument. The underlying return type is whichever has the greatest magnitude.
  • Min() - Returns whichever is lowest of the current instance or argument. The underlying return type is whichever has can represent the lowest number in the smallest width (e.g. int8_t over unsigned, int over int8_t, and float over int).

The following are for converting CheckedNumeric instances:

  • type - The underlying numeric type.
  • AssignIfValid() - Assigns the underlying value to the supplied destination pointer if the value is currently valid and within the range supported by the destination type. Returns true on success.
  • Cast<>() - Instance method returning a CheckedNumeric derived from casting the current instance to a CheckedNumeric of the supplied destination type.
The following member functions return a StrictNumeric, which is valid for comparison and assignment operations, but will trigger a compile failure on attempts to assign to a type of insufficient range. The underlying value can be extracted by an explicit static_cast to the underlying type or any type with sufficient range to represent the underlying type.
  • IsValid() - Returns true if the underlying numeric value is valid (i.e. has not wrapped or saturated and is not the result of an invalid conversion).
  • ValueOrDie() - Returns the underlying value. If the state is not valid this call will trigger a crash by default (but may be overridden by supplying an alternate handler to the template).
  • ValueOrDefault() - Returns the current value, or the supplied default if the state is not valid (but will not crash).

Comparison operators are explicitly not provided for CheckedNumeric types because they could result in a crash if the type is not in a valid state. Patterns like the following should be used instead:

CheckedNumeric<size_t> checked_size = untrusted_input_value;
checked_size += HEADER LENGTH;
if (checked_size.IsValid() && checked_size.ValueOrDie() < buffer_size) {
  \\ Do stuff on success...
} else {
  \\ Handle an error...
}

Non-member helper functions

The following variadic convenience functions, which accept standard arithmetic or CheckedNumeric types, perform arithmetic operations, and return a CheckedNumeric result. The supported functions are:

  • CheckAdd() - Addition.
  • CheckSub() - Subtraction.
  • CheckMul() - Multiplication.
  • CheckDiv() - Division.
  • CheckMod() - Modulus (integer only).
  • CheckLsh() - Left integer shift (integer only).
  • CheckRsh() - Right integer shift (integer only).
  • CheckAnd() - Bitwise AND (integer only with unsigned result).
  • CheckOr() - Bitwise OR (integer only with unsigned result).
  • CheckXor() - Bitwise XOR (integer only with unsigned result).
  • CheckMax() - Maximum of supplied arguments.
  • CheckMin() - Minimum of supplied arguments.

The following wrapper functions can be used to avoid the template disambiguator syntax when converting a destination type.

  • IsValidForType<>() in place of: a.template IsValid<>()
  • ValueOrDieForType<>() in place of: a.template ValueOrDie<>()
  • ValueOrDefaultForType<>() in place of: a.template ValueOrDefault<>()

The following general utility methods is are useful for converting from arithmetic types to CheckedNumeric types:

  • MakeCheckedNum() - Creates a new CheckedNumeric from the underlying type of the supplied arithmetic or directly convertible type.

ClampedNumeric<> in clamped_math.h

ClampedNumeric<> implements all the logic and operators for clamped (non-sticky saturating) arithmetic operations and conversions. The ClampedNumeric type implicitly converts back and forth between floating point and integer data types, saturating on assignment as appropriate. It contains overloads for basic arithmetic operations (i.e.: +, -, *, / for all types and %, <<, >>, &, |, ^ for integers) along with comparison operators for arithmetic types of any size. Type promotions are a slightly modified version of the standard C/C++ numeric promotions with the two differences being that there is no default promotion to int and bitwise logical operations always return an unsigned of the wider type.

Most arithmetic operations saturate normally, to the numeric limit in the direction of the sign. The potentially unusual cases are:

  • Division: Division by zero returns the saturated limit in the direction of sign of the dividend (first argument). The one exception is 0/0, which returns zero (although logically is NaN).
  • Modulus: Division by zero returns the dividend (first argument).
  • Left shift: Non-zero values saturate in the direction of the signed limit (max/min), even for shifts larger than the bit width. 0 shifted any amount results in 0.
  • Right shift: Negative values saturate to -1. Positive or 0 saturates to 0.
  • Bitwise operations: No saturation; bit pattern is identical to non-saturated bitwise operations.

Members

The unary negation, increment, and decrement operators are supported, along with the following unary arithmetic methods, which return a new ClampedNumeric as a result of the operation:

  • Abs() - Absolute value.
  • UnsignedAbs() - Absolute value as an equal-width unsigned underlying type (valid for only integral types).
  • Max() - Returns whichever is greater of the current instance or argument. The underlying return type is whichever has the greatest magnitude.
  • Min() - Returns whichever is lowest of the current instance or argument. The underlying return type is whichever has can represent the lowest number in the smallest width (e.g. int8_t over unsigned, int over int8_t, and float over int).

The following are for converting ClampedNumeric instances:

  • type - The underlying numeric type.
  • Cast<>() - Instance method returning a ClampedNumeric derived from casting the current instance to a ClampedNumeric of the supplied destination type.

Non-member helper functions

The following variadic convenience functions, which accept standard arithmetic or ClampedNumeric types, perform arithmetic operations, and return a ClampedNumeric result. The supported functions are:

  • ClampAdd() - Addition.
  • ClampSub() - Subtraction.
  • ClampMul() - Multiplication.
  • ClampDiv() - Division.
  • ClampMod() - Modulus (integer only).
  • ClampLsh() - Left integer shift (integer only).
  • ClampRsh() - Right integer shift (integer only).
  • ClampAnd() - Bitwise AND (integer only with unsigned result).
  • ClampOr() - Bitwise OR (integer only with unsigned result).
  • ClampXor() - Bitwise XOR (integer only with unsigned result).
  • ClampMax() - Maximum of supplied arguments.
  • ClampMin() - Minimum of supplied arguments.

The following is a general utility method that is useful for converting to a ClampedNumeric type:

  • MakeClampedNum() - Creates a new ClampedNumeric from the underlying type of the supplied arithmetic or directly convertible type.