Big numbers

[Chandrashekhar Mullaparthi]

I'll answer my own question :)

A big number represented as a binary has a fixed overhead of a 1 word
compared to the big number itself.

And there is no easy way to do a binary-and of two binaries.
The only way I can think of is:

do_bin_and(A,B) ->
    ASize = size(A)*8,
    BSize = size(B)*8,
    <<AI:ASize>> = A,
    <<BI:BSize>> = B,
    AI band BI.

which is obviously less efficient than 

A band B.

Chandru

-----Original Message-----
From: Chandrashekhar Mullaparthi
[mailto:Chandrashekhar.Mullaparthi@REDACTED]
Sent: 19 February 2002 13:34
To: 'erlang-questions@REDACTED'
Subject: Big numbers


I have a record in which one of the elements is a bitmap which can be about
a 100 bits long. Is it more efficient to store the bitmap as a binary or as
a number in Mnesia. I will be storing millions of these records. 

The only operation I will be doing on these bitmaps is checking whether
certain bits are set. If using numbers I can use the "band" operator. Is
there any computation overhead when dealing with big numbers compared to
dealing with binaries in this aspect.

tia,
Chandru



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