Is there a "Number" struct/class in .NET?

Question

I am attempting to store a variable length number that can have leading zeros as a part of that number.

Is there a class in the .NET framework capable of storing values like this without losing information about leading zeros, and could surpass the upper limit of a long?

I am currently storing them in a class like this, is there any way I could write this class better in the event there isn't some struct or class available in the BCL:

[Serializable]
public class Number
{
    public int[] Array { get; set; }
    public int Length { get { return Array.Length; } }

    public Number(string number)
    {
        Array = new int[number.Length];

        for (int i = 0; i < number.Length; i++)
        {
            Array[i] = Convert.ToInt32(number[i].ToString());
        }
    }

    public Number(int[] array)
    {
        Array = array;
    }

    public int ToInt()
    {
        return Convert.ToInt32(ToString());
    }

    public override string ToString()
    {
        StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(Array.Length);

        foreach (int i in Array)
            sb.Append(i);

        return sb.ToString();
    }
}

The ability to use this as a struct would be very useful, as would the ability to check equality easily.

Items in bold/italic are the requirements of such a class.

Answer 1

The BigInteger in .Net 4.0 addresses your upper limit requirement.

I think you'd still need a class like this to handle your leading zeros requirement.

Answer 2

I'd suggest taking a look at this question about big integers in C#. You could expand them for the leading zeros issue.

Answer 3

I see a number of problems with your class that should be addressed with the redesign.

• Your class represents a value and is mutable.
• The constructor taking an int array parameter only copies the reference.
• The value can be larger than long but is returned as an int from the ToInt() method.

The first thing I would do to shrink the size of this class is use the array of integers as a constant stream of bits which make up a binary representation of your number. This would take a lot more care in order to ensure correctness of any desired operations, but would save you a significant amount of space. If you do that, I would also store a variable to keep track of leading 0's, or perhaps a variable "total digits" semantics.

Sorry this isn't an answer to your question, but hopefully it will help you in redesigning this your class.

Answer 4

Until BigInteger is openly available, I would create your own class/struct with one public string property to get/set the initial number (this will maintain your leading zeros). Then have a ReadOnly property that parses the string and returns an IntX instance.