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<td><h2>Safe Numerics</h2></td>
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<a name="safe_numerics.tutorial.1"></a>Arithmetic Expressions Can Yield Incorrect Results</h3></div></div></div>
<p>When some operation on signed integer types results in a result
which exceeds the capacity of a data variable to hold it, the result is
undefined. In the case of unsigned integer types a similar situation
results in a value wrap as per modulo arithmetic. In either case the
result is different than in integer number arithmetic in the mathematical
sense. This is called "overflow". Since word size can differ between
machines, code which produces mathematically correct results in one set of
circumstances may fail when re-compiled on a machine with different
hardware. When this occurs, Most C++ compilers will continue to execute
with no indication that the results are wrong. It is the programmer's
responsibility to ensure such undefined behavior is avoided.</p>
<p>This program demonstrates this problem. The solution is to replace
instances of <code class="computeroutput">char</code> type with <code class="computeroutput">safe&lt;char&gt;</code>
type.</p>
<pre class="programlisting"><span class="preprocessor">#include</span> <span class="special">&lt;</span><span class="identifier">cassert</span><span class="special">&gt;</span>
<span class="preprocessor">#include</span> <span class="special">&lt;</span><span class="identifier">exception</span><span class="special">&gt;</span>
<span class="preprocessor">#include</span> <span class="special">&lt;</span><span class="identifier">iostream</span><span class="special">&gt;</span>
<span class="preprocessor">#include</span> <span class="special">&lt;</span><span class="identifier">cstdint</span><span class="special">&gt;</span>
<span class="preprocessor">#include</span> <span class="string">"../include/safe_integer.hpp"</span>
<span class="keyword">int</span> <span class="identifier">main</span><span class="special">(</span><span class="keyword">int</span> <span class="identifier">argc</span><span class="special">,</span> <span class="keyword">const</span> <span class="keyword">char</span> <span class="special">*</span> <span class="identifier">argv</span><span class="special">[</span><span class="special">]</span><span class="special">)</span><span class="special">{</span>
<span class="identifier">std</span><span class="special">::</span><span class="identifier">cout</span> <span class="special">&lt;&lt;</span> <span class="string">"example 1:"</span><span class="special">;</span>
<span class="identifier">std</span><span class="special">::</span><span class="identifier">cout</span> <span class="special">&lt;&lt;</span> <span class="string">"undetected erroneous expression evaluation"</span> <span class="special">&lt;&lt;</span> <span class="identifier">std</span><span class="special">::</span><span class="identifier">endl</span><span class="special">;</span>
<span class="identifier">std</span><span class="special">::</span><span class="identifier">cout</span> <span class="special">&lt;&lt;</span> <span class="string">"Not using safe numerics"</span> <span class="special">&lt;&lt;</span> <span class="identifier">std</span><span class="special">::</span><span class="identifier">endl</span><span class="special">;</span>
<span class="keyword">try</span><span class="special">{</span>
<span class="keyword">int</span> <span class="identifier">x</span> <span class="special">=</span> <span class="identifier">INT_MAX</span><span class="special">;</span>
<span class="keyword">int</span> <span class="identifier">y</span> <span class="special">=</span> <span class="number">2</span><span class="special">;</span>
<span class="keyword">int</span> <span class="identifier">z</span><span class="special">;</span>
<span class="comment">// this produces an invalid result !</span>
<span class="identifier">z</span> <span class="special">=</span> <span class="identifier">x</span> <span class="special">+</span> <span class="identifier">y</span><span class="special">;</span>
<span class="comment">// but assert fails to detect it since C++ implicitly</span>
<span class="comment">// converts variables to int before evaluating he expression!</span>
<span class="comment">// assert(z == x + y);</span>
<span class="identifier">std</span><span class="special">::</span><span class="identifier">cout</span> <span class="special">&lt;&lt;</span> <span class="keyword">static_cast</span><span class="special">&lt;</span><span class="keyword">int</span><span class="special">&gt;</span><span class="special">(</span><span class="identifier">z</span><span class="special">)</span> <span class="special">&lt;&lt;</span> <span class="string">" != "</span> <span class="special">&lt;&lt;</span> <span class="identifier">x</span> <span class="special">+</span> <span class="identifier">y</span> <span class="special">&lt;&lt;</span> <span class="identifier">std</span><span class="special">::</span><span class="identifier">endl</span><span class="special">;</span>
<span class="identifier">std</span><span class="special">::</span><span class="identifier">cout</span> <span class="special">&lt;&lt;</span> <span class="string">"error NOT detected!"</span> <span class="special">&lt;&lt;</span> <span class="identifier">std</span><span class="special">::</span><span class="identifier">endl</span><span class="special">;</span>
<span class="special">}</span>
<span class="keyword">catch</span><span class="special">(</span><span class="identifier">std</span><span class="special">::</span><span class="identifier">exception</span><span class="special">)</span><span class="special">{</span>
<span class="identifier">std</span><span class="special">::</span><span class="identifier">cout</span> <span class="special">&lt;&lt;</span> <span class="string">"error detected!"</span> <span class="special">&lt;&lt;</span> <span class="identifier">std</span><span class="special">::</span><span class="identifier">endl</span><span class="special">;</span>
<span class="special">}</span>
<span class="comment">// solution: replace int with safe&lt;int&gt;</span>
<span class="identifier">std</span><span class="special">::</span><span class="identifier">cout</span> <span class="special">&lt;&lt;</span> <span class="string">"Using safe numerics"</span> <span class="special">&lt;&lt;</span> <span class="identifier">std</span><span class="special">::</span><span class="identifier">endl</span><span class="special">;</span>
<span class="keyword">try</span><span class="special">{</span>
<span class="keyword">using</span> <span class="keyword">namespace</span> <span class="identifier">boost</span><span class="special">::</span><span class="identifier">numeric</span><span class="special">;</span>
<span class="identifier">safe</span><span class="special">&lt;</span><span class="keyword">int</span><span class="special">&gt;</span> <span class="identifier">x</span> <span class="special">=</span> <span class="number">127</span><span class="special">;</span>
<span class="identifier">safe</span><span class="special">&lt;</span><span class="keyword">int</span><span class="special">&gt;</span> <span class="identifier">y</span> <span class="special">=</span> <span class="number">2</span><span class="special">;</span>
<span class="identifier">safe</span><span class="special">&lt;</span><span class="keyword">int</span><span class="special">&gt;</span> <span class="identifier">z</span><span class="special">;</span>
<span class="comment">// rather than producing and invalid result an exception is thrown</span>
<span class="identifier">z</span> <span class="special">=</span> <span class="identifier">x</span> <span class="special">+</span> <span class="identifier">y</span><span class="special">;</span>
<span class="special">}</span>
<span class="keyword">catch</span><span class="special">(</span><span class="identifier">std</span><span class="special">::</span><span class="identifier">exception</span> <span class="special">&amp;</span> <span class="identifier">e</span><span class="special">)</span><span class="special">{</span>
<span class="comment">// which can catch here</span>
<span class="identifier">std</span><span class="special">::</span><span class="identifier">cout</span> <span class="special">&lt;&lt;</span> <span class="identifier">e</span><span class="special">.</span><span class="identifier">what</span><span class="special">(</span><span class="special">)</span> <span class="special">&lt;&lt;</span> <span class="identifier">std</span><span class="special">::</span><span class="identifier">endl</span><span class="special">;</span>
<span class="special">}</span>
<span class="keyword">return</span> <span class="number">0</span><span class="special">;</span>
<span class="special">}</span>
</pre>
<p>Note that I've used <code class="computeroutput">char</code> types in this example to make
the problem and solution easier to see. The exact same example could have
been done with <code class="computeroutput">int</code> types albeit with different values.</p>
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<td align="right"><div class="copyright-footer">Copyright &#169; 2012 Robert Ramey<p><a href="http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt" target="_top">Subject to Boost
Software License</a></p>
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