Embedded Linear Algebra

Minimal header only linear algebra library with expression templates and low footprint designed to run on embedded devices.

Matrix

A matrix is generic over the scalar type, the number of rows and the number of columns, dynamically sized matrices are not supported.

The internal buffer is always allocated on the stack as a contiguous row-major array and by default is set to 0.

Vector

There are three classes of vectors, two concrete and one as a view.

Column Vector

A column_vector<Type, Size> is just a type alias for matrix<Type, Size, 1> but in addition to expression access it implements direct access through the [] operator.

Row Vector

A row_vector<Type, Size> is just a type alias for matrix<Type, 1, Size> but in addition to expression access it implements direct access through the [] operator.

Vector

A vector is a column or row vector view into an expression (or matrix if mutable access is required).

Example

ela::matrix<float, 3, 3> a{{1, 0, 3}, {4, 0, 6}, {7, 0, 9}};

// Assign a column of a matrix.
a.column(1) = {2, 5, 8};

// Scale a row of the matrix and save it as a column vector.
ela::column_vector<float, 3> b = ~(a.row(1) * 2);

Bound checking

Bound checks are used at any runtime indexing operation through a call to ELA_ASSUME.

Unless ELA_ASSUME is defined before ela/ela.hpp is included its definition will become an assert call when NDEBUG is not defined and a compiler unreachable hint when NDEBUG is defined.

In your custom expression implementations you're advised to call ELA_ASSUME yourself to make sure the compiler knows what's going on.

Expression

All matrix operations are implemented as expression templates so no intermediary objects are created unless explictly assigned to a matrix.

If all your matrix values are known at compile time compilers are able to completely constant unfold the results most of the time.

What is an expression?

An expression is any type that implements the ela::expression::traits and provides the appropriate indexing operator.

Example

We'll implement a generic RGB type as if it were a column vector.

/* Inheriting from `ela::expression::base` is not required but it automatically
 * implements all generic expression operators for free, it doesn't add any
 * data.
 */
template <typename Type>
struct RGB: public ela::expression::base<RGB<Type>>
{
public:
	using ela::expression::base<RGB<Type>>::operator =;

public:
	Type r = 0;
	Type g = 0;
	Type b = 0;

	/* Create an empty color.
	 */
	RGB () noexcept
	{ }

	RGB (Type r, Type g, Type b) noexcept
		: r(r), g(g), b(b)
	{ }

	template <typename Input, typename T = Type>
	RGB (Input const& expr, typename std::enable_if<
		3 == ela::expression::traits<Input>::rows &&
		1 == ela::expression::traits<Input>::columns &&
		std::is_same<T, typename ela::expression::traits<Input>::type>::value>::type* = 0) noexcept
	{
		ela::expression::base<RGB<Type>>::operator=(expr);
	}

	RGB (std::initializer_list<std::initializer_list<Type>> elements) noexcept
	{
		ela::expression::base<RGB<Type>>::operator=(elements);
	}

	RGB (std::initializer_list<Type> elements) noexcept
	{
		ela::expression::base<RGB<Type>>::operator=(elements);
	}

	/* This is the expression access operator.
	 */
	inline
	Type const&
	operator () (size_t row, size_t column) const noexcept
	{
		ELA_ASSUME(row < 3 && column == 0);

		if (row == 0) {
			return r;
		}
		else if (row == 1) {
			return g;
		}
		else {
			return b;
		}
	}

	/* This is the expression access operator.
	 */
	inline
	Type&
	operator () (size_t row, size_t column) noexcept
	{
		ELA_ASSUME(row < 3 && column == 0);

		if (row == 0) {
			return r;
		}
		else if (row == 1) {
			return g;
		}
		else {
			return b;
		}
	}
};

namespace ela { namespace expression {
	/* This defines the experssion traits for `RGB<T>`.
	 */
	template <typename Type>
	struct traits<RGB<Type>>
	{
		/* This is always the scalar type.
		 */
		typedef Type type;

		/* This is the number of rows the expression will produce.
		 */
		static constexpr size_t rows = 3;

		/* This is the number of columns the expression will produce.
		 */
		static constexpr size_t columns = 1;

		/* This says the expression can return references.
		 */
		static constexpr bool concrete = true;
	};
} }

This code will make RGB behave as an expression, you can look into tests/ for more examples of expressions and other stuff.