Language:
C++

Task:
Packing the required number of bits of all the given data, which can be of any valid C++ Datatype, in a given char*.

I have successfully completed packing of required number of bits of the following Datatypes:
1. Integer
2. Short
3. Character
4. Character array

Pending Datatypes:
1. Float
2. Structures, Enum, Union.

I don't have a clear idea how Structures and Floating points should be packed ?

I posted a question in Stackoverflow and the people there told me about bitset and Boost Serialization library.

While Googling further, I found BitMagic Library !

• Can someone throw some light on the above two findings w.r.t Structures ?

• (Little Endian machine) Which 5 digits from this number should be packed in a char*: 234.21234567 ?

• Are there some standard algorithms for this type of bit packing ? I looked at Huffman Coding algorithm, but I am not sure whether it is meant for such kind of tasks !

I need guidance.

When you say 'bit packing', do you mean that you are trying to reduce the size of the data? Or that you are trying to explicitly represent the data in a character array? (the term 'packing' in C/C++ usually means removing word alignment space from a structure)

Floating point numbers are typically represented using IEEE-754; there are several different sizes in common use. Both the digits and the exponent are represented; up to a third of the object is used for the exponent. The initial digits are the most significant.

Huffman coding is a way of encoding data so that more frequently occurring data is represented with less bits. One use is for lossless compression of data. However, the encoding has a variable bit length (which might not be what your question is).

If what you are interested in is the serialization of data (representation as a sequence of bytes), then the Boost serialization library is useful because it provides a platform independent way of converting a type into a character stream.

Converting a structure into a character stream is just a matter of converting each of its component types into a stream in turn.

1 members found this post helpful.