// Copyright 2016 The Chromium Authors. All rights reserved. // Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style license that can be // found in the LICENSE file. #ifndef BASE_BIT_CAST_H_ #define BASE_BIT_CAST_H_ #include #include #include "base/compiler_specific.h" #include "build/build_config.h" // bit_cast is a template function that implements the equivalent // of "*reinterpret_cast(&source)". We need this in very low-level // functions like the protobuf library and fast math support. // // float f = 3.14159265358979; // int i = bit_cast(f); // // i = 0x40490fdb // // The classical address-casting method is: // // // WRONG // float f = 3.14159265358979; // WRONG // int i = * reinterpret_cast(&f); // WRONG // // The address-casting method actually produces undefined behavior according to // the ISO C++98 specification, section 3.10 ("basic.lval"), paragraph 15. // (This did not substantially change in C++11.) Roughly, this section says: if // an object in memory has one type, and a program accesses it with a different // type, then the result is undefined behavior for most values of "different // type". // // This is true for any cast syntax, either *(int*)&f or // *reinterpret_cast(&f). And it is particularly true for conversions // between integral lvalues and floating-point lvalues. // // The purpose of this paragraph is to allow optimizing compilers to assume that // expressions with different types refer to different memory. Compilers are // known to take advantage of this. So a non-conforming program quietly // produces wildly incorrect output. // // The problem is not the use of reinterpret_cast. The problem is type punning: // holding an object in memory of one type and reading its bits back using a // different type. // // The C++ standard is more subtle and complex than this, but that is the basic // idea. // // Anyways ... // // bit_cast<> calls memcpy() which is blessed by the standard, especially by the // example in section 3.9 . Also, of course, bit_cast<> wraps up the nasty // logic in one place. // // Fortunately memcpy() is very fast. In optimized mode, compilers replace // calls to memcpy() with inline object code when the size argument is a // compile-time constant. On a 32-bit system, memcpy(d,s,4) compiles to one // load and one store, and memcpy(d,s,8) compiles to two loads and two stores. template inline Dest bit_cast(const Source& source) { static_assert(sizeof(Dest) == sizeof(Source), "bit_cast requires source and destination to be the same size"); #if (__GNUC__ > 5 || (__GNUC__ == 5 && __GNUC_MINOR__ >= 1) || \ defined(_LIBCPP_VERSION)) // GCC 5.1 contains the first libstdc++ with is_trivially_copyable. // Assume libc++ Just Works: is_trivially_copyable added on May 13th 2011. static_assert(std::is_trivially_copyable::value, "non-trivially-copyable bit_cast is undefined"); static_assert(std::is_trivially_copyable::value, "non-trivially-copyable bit_cast is undefined"); #elif HAS_FEATURE(is_trivially_copyable) // The compiler supports an equivalent intrinsic. static_assert(__is_trivially_copyable(Dest), "non-trivially-copyable bit_cast is undefined"); static_assert(__is_trivially_copyable(Source), "non-trivially-copyable bit_cast is undefined"); #elif COMPILER_GCC // Fallback to compiler intrinsic on GCC and clang (which pretends to be // GCC). This isn't quite the same as is_trivially_copyable but it'll do for // our purpose. static_assert(__has_trivial_copy(Dest), "non-trivially-copyable bit_cast is undefined"); static_assert(__has_trivial_copy(Source), "non-trivially-copyable bit_cast is undefined"); #else // Do nothing, let the bots handle it. #endif Dest dest; memcpy(&dest, &source, sizeof(dest)); return dest; } #endif // BASE_BIT_CAST_H_