Sometimes you need a quick routine, or a routine that uses encryption. Sometimes you need a simple multiplication of Big numbers...
If so, we would like to know we developed a collection of functions (library, dll) for working with real big numbers and all that. (...numbers bigger than the normal data types a programmer can handle.)
It was made for Visual Basic, but can be used in any language that can invoke a .DLL (such as C++, VBA in Excel, Access or whatever)
It's the only DLL available for Windows for UNLIMITED BIG NUMBERS with functions such as: +/-* Power2, Power10, MOD DIVIDE, ISPRIME, COMPARE, Xor etc...
Calculations are sometimes even faster than you are used to, cause everything was made in assembly. It's shareware and it is online on
Oh, can it also be used in Visual Basic? On a Win 98 machine ? Can it also find all 100% proven Prime Numbers? Can it also find RSA-factors ?... Does it include encryption modules?
Probably, with some work, since you get the source code... but not as easily as yours, I think.
Can yours? Amazing...
GNU MP has the Miller-Rabin probabilistic primality test and can determine whether a number is definitely a composite, definitely a prime, or probably a prime (with arbitrary high probability).
It also comes with an example program that demonstrates Pollard's "rho" method for probabilistic factoring, which I don't know anything about.
For that there is libgcrypt:
formatting link
Since we are feature slinging: Does your library have optimized assembly code for ARM, DEC Alpha 21064, 21164, and 21264, AMD 29000, AMD K6, K6-2 and Athlon, Hitachi SuperH and SH-2, HPPA 1.0, 1.1 and
2.0, Intel Pentium, Pentium Pro/II/III, Pentium 4, generic x86, Intel IA-64, i960, Motorola MC68000, MC68020, MC88100, and MC88110, Motorola/IBM PowerPC 32 and 64, National NS32000, IBM POWER, MIPS R3000, R4000, SPARCv7, SuperSPARC, generic SPARCv8, UltraSPARC, DEC VAX, and Zilog Z8000? Does it even run on those? Does it run on Unix, Linux, Solaris, AIX, HP UX? Does it do arbitrarily sized floating point? Random numbers? Can I trust their quality? Can I use it from Perl, Python, C++, Fortran, Java, Lisp, Scheme, Pascal?
Noop. some. but somehow, it seems you're not really interested.
Sorry i mentioned the 4 year's hard work of a man who want's other people to know he made something he thinks is beautifull and wants to see if some else can use it. Sorry if i offended you in any way by mentioning that here. I did not know that programmers should keep their programs and that it is forbidden to post information on that.
Now i know, there only a few people that are allowed to post here. Thanks.
You were allowed to post, your post was not discouraged in any way. The reply that was sent to your first message was merely to inform others that a GPL (freeware) version of such a library was also available and to give them information on how to obtain more information on that. ie Giving more options to the readers of this newsgroup, and hence further empowering them.
You replied to that message in a snarky negative way, and the thread denegrated from there...
This wasn't really required... There is a shareware library available (via you) which although it costs money will have some form of available support for it, and there is also a freeware library which doesn't cost any money however doesn't have the same level of support one would imagine. That's really all the discussion required on the subject. Negative comments can be left for other newgroups.
That's simplifying it a bit, I'm afraid. Your website also sells your library and only a crippled version is available for free. That's mostly why I responded: advertising is frowned upon in Usenet, even more so when it is done stealthily. So I wanted to mention GNU MP right next to your advertisement, so that people know that there is an alternative.
No, no, you misunderstood. New to the Internet? ;-) You are allowed to post here, but I'm also allowed to comment. Other people read what we write and form their own opinions. Simple, eh? Now step back and think about whether you did your business a favor by reacting in the way you did.
Can it be used by clueless people who cross-post to unrelated newsgroups (unless it happens to generate synthesizable FPGA code)??? Why is this in comp.arch.fpga?
Thanks for all the remarks. I learned a lot in only a few hours. Perhaps i overreacted, but mainly because in less then some minutes after my posting, everywhere on the globe, people started commenting on the product that we offer. No problem, but without even consulting our site or downloading the shareware version ! (i know cause i monitored)
It's a pitty that people do not seem to take time for a good critique, but make (mostly) negative comments on everything that's new.
Today i did some research on relevant comments and came up with this:
GMP is only free of copyright if you do not change the source of GMP with your distributed package. Then you have to ask the consent of the makers. You have to change and debug the code in order to make it work, so therefore the "free" thing applies to "free time" not to the value of your time. (source: several experienced users, not my own experience)
We support Windows as The Platform. Our library is quick and easy to install (10 seconds) has a full, easy and quick Help file. We give unlimited direct forum access and we want to make this product ready for some big users, so we will do everything to improve our library. That means we make real interested users very happy, cause we make special functions, do testing etc. for them. For some this is not interesting, cause they are happy with what they have got, no problem. We provide a richness of samples, but these are currently under review and not on-line.
Currently we are working on a special C/C++ library for Windows. Release is scheduled. Current we support and share the Visual Basic version and we hope we will get some media attention around that time too, cause we think we developed the only full package for Visual Basic Library for Windows for Big Numbers.
And what was the orginal reason for posting to a group that has mostly Macintosh users? RealBasic is primarily a Macintosh product. It can be run cross-platform to develop applications on the PC, Linux, and Mac. It has no relationship to Visual Basic nor can run it's code or libraries, from what I understand. I personally don't go near "The Platform" without wearing latex.
Additionally, RealBasic has shareware and freeware code libraries of it's own that provide similar features like a
formatting link
formatting link
formatting link
Kudos on your work on "the Platform", but you really walked into the wrong place to tout your accomplishments. I know developers like to show off what they've done, like breeders like to show pictures of their kids. And good for you for owning up to your faux pas rather than get all defensive. Good luck with your future endevours.
--
DeeDee, don't press that button! DeeDee! NO! Dee...
(I did download it, but I couldn't unpack it since I don't have Windows. I hoped that it was a regular ZIP archive, but it wasn't.)
But still you learned a lot... :-)
This is not true. If you are genuinely interested in how Free Software, Open Source and their licenses work, and why it is "free" as in "free speech" and not as in "free beer", then hop over to gnu.misc.discuss or start reading at
I've had a quick look at your site, but like most people in the various unrelated newsgroups you posted to, I am mainly replying to your posted comments rather than your site or your software - I am not really in a position to judge the software itself fairly.
therefore
Source: The Microsoft FUD machine, or perhaps SCO.
Back here in the real world, GMP is LGPL'ed. That means it is *never* free of copyright, you *never* have to ask the consent of the makers to make use of the software as stipulated in the license (which basically says that any software, under any license, can make use of the GMP library as desired - however, if you make any changes to the GMP library itself, and release those changes to others in binary form, then you also have to release the source for the changes under the LGPL. Fair enough.), you *don't* need to change or debug the code (unless you find that there actually is a bug in it - in which case you have the power to change it yourself since you have the source code).
Now, I'm not going to argue that using the GMP would cost more or less than your library, because you are correct in saying that starting to use it is going to take some time, and for the non-hobbyist, that time is not free. Which is cheaper will depend on the price of your software, the ease of use of the two libraries, suitability for their purpose, experiance of the user, etc. The term "Free Software" has never been about price (although that's often a nice bonus) - it is about freedom.
There are plenty of areas where FOSS is the most appropriate, and plenty where closed source is the most appropriate. But if you are going to argue the case for your software, then learn what you are arguing against rather than blindly quoting "things you heard" that are obviously wrong.
For people involved in work that might require multiple precision arithmetic, Windows is not "The Platform". It barely ranks as "a platform".
This is where you can score big time. You will not beat the GMP on speed, features, functionality, or flexibility - claiming you can just makes you look silly. But you *can* beat it on ease of installation, and ease of use, especially for smaller users who want something they can get into quickly without reading large piles of documentation.
ready
This is also very important - people will pay you for your help and support.
version
Big
If I were you, I'd get the C/C++ library out fast. I don't think you are going to reach a big audience with VB support (correct me if I'm wrong - presumably you know your potential customer base). I think that most people interested in this sort of functionality will be either using large mathematical or scientific packages, or using languages like C/C++ (for speed) or Python (for HLL programming, and speed in some types of application). As evidence for the lack of interest in VB programming with multiple precision arithmetic, I cite the lack of an easy-to-find website with a downloadable VB interface to GMP - it would not be hard to do (since the GMP can be compiled as a DLL), but still no one has bothered doing it.
I wish you luck in your business, and I hope you can make something of it. But it pays to think carefully about what you write in technical newsgroups - as an advertiser, you begin any thread with a big disadvantage and must be ready for condemnation - especially when you cross-post to irrelevant newsgroups. Being rude, sarcastic, and writing plainly incorrect and biased arguments is not going to win you friends or customers. But don't take it too hard (and don't take it personally!) - I doubt that many of the people replying in this thread would have bought your library anyway.
ElectronDepot website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.