BigInt ======================================== ``BigInt`` is Botan's implementation of a multiple-precision integer. Thanks to C++'s operator overloading features, using ``BigInt`` is often quite similar to using a native integer type. The number of functions related to ``BigInt`` is quite large. You can find most of them in ``botan/bigint.h`` and ``botan/numthry.h``. Encoding Functions ---------------------------------------- These transform the normal representation of a ``BigInt`` into some other form, such as a decimal string: .. cpp:function:: secure_vector<byte> BigInt::encode(const BigInt& n, Encoding enc = Binary) This function encodes the BigInt n into a memory vector. ``Encoding`` is an enum that has values ``Binary``, ``Decimal``, and ``Hexadecimal``. .. cpp:function:: BigInt BigInt::decode(const std::vector<byte>& vec, Encoding enc) Decode the integer from ``vec`` using the encoding specified. These functions are static member functions, so they would be called like this:: BigInt n1 = ...; // some number secure_vector<byte> n1_encoded = BigInt::encode(n1); BigInt n2 = BigInt::decode(n1_encoded); assert(n1 == n2); There are also C++-style I/O operators defined for use with ``BigInt``. The input operator understands negative numbers and hexadecimal numbers (marked with a leading "0x"). The '-' must come before the "0x" marker. The output operator will never adorn the output; for example, when printing a hexadecimal number, there will not be a leading "0x" (though a leading '-' will be printed if the number is negative). If you want such things, you'll have to do them yourself. ``BigInt`` has constructors that can create a ``BigInt`` from an unsigned integer or a string. You can also decode an array (a ``byte`` pointer plus a length) into a ``BigInt`` using a constructor. Number Theory ---------------------------------------- Number theoretic functions available include: .. cpp:function:: BigInt gcd(BigInt x, BigInt y) Returns the greatest common divisor of x and y .. cpp:function:: BigInt lcm(BigInt x, BigInt y) Returns an integer z which is the smallest integer such that z % x == 0 and z % y == 0 .. cpp:function:: BigInt inverse_mod(BigInt x, BigInt m) Returns the modular inverse of x modulo m, that is, an integer y such that (x*y) % m == 1. If no such y exists, returns zero. .. cpp:function:: BigInt power_mod(BigInt b, BigInt x, BigInt m) Returns b to the xth power modulo m. If you are doing many exponentiations with a single fixed modulus, it is faster to use a ``Power_Mod`` implementation. .. cpp:function:: BigInt ressol(BigInt x, BigInt p) Returns the square root modulo a prime, that is, returns a number y such that (y*y) % p == x. Returns -1 if no such integer exists. .. cpp:function:: bool quick_check_prime(BigInt n, RandomNumberGenerator& rng) .. cpp:function:: bool check_prime(BigInt n, RandomNumberGenerator& rng) .. cpp:function:: bool verify_prime(BigInt n, RandomNumberGenerator& rng) Three variations on primality testing. All take an integer to test along with a random number generator, and return true if the integer seems like it might be prime; there is a chance that this function will return true even with a composite number. The probability decreases with the amount of work performed, so it is much less likely that ``verify_prime`` will return a false positive than ``check_prime`` will. .. cpp:function BigInt random_prime(RandomNumberGenerator& rng, \ size_t bits, BigInt coprime = 1, size_t equiv = 1, size_t equiv_mod = 2) Return a random prime number of ``bits`` bits long that is relatively prime to ``coprime``, and equivalent to ``equiv`` modulo ``equiv_mod``.