GY-63_MS5611/libraries/printHelpers/README.md

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# printHelpers

Arduino library to help formatting data for printing.


## Description

The printHelpers library contains a number of functions that help to print 
data in a way not possible in the standard print library of the Arduino.

- **print64()** print **uint64_t** and **int64_t** 
- **sci()** generates in scientific format - exponent has step 1.
- **eng()** generates in engineering format - exponent has step 3.
- **scieng()** generated exponential format - exponent has step 1 to 9.
- **toBytes()** generates KB MB GB etc.
- **hex()** generates hexadecimal output with leading zeros up to **uint64_t**.
- **bin()** generates binary output with leading zeros up to **uint64_t**.

Details, see below.


#### thread safety

Note the functions of this library all share an internal buffer, so the library is 
definitely **not** thread safe. 
Therefore one should copy / print the data (returned pointer) as fast as possible.

Thread-safe versions of these print functions might be made in the future.


## Interface

```cpp
#include "printHelpers.h"
```

The following functions are implemented:


#### print64()

- **char \* print64(int64_t value, uint8_t base)**  converts a 64 bit integer 
number to a char array. 
The plus sign is not printed, neither are leading zero's.
Base 10 (DEC) and 16 (HEX) are supported and other bases up to 36 can be used.
Note that negative numbers will always get a minus sign for any base.
Cast the number to uint64_t to suppress the sign.

- **char \* print64(uint64_t value, uint8_t base)** converts a unsigned 64 bit 
int number to a char array. 
No sign is printed, neither are leading zero's. 
Base 10 (DEC) and 16 (HEX) are supported and bases up to 36 can be used.


#### sci() eng() 

- **char \* sci(double value, uint8_t decimals)** converts a float or double to a 
char array. 
E.g. **print(sci(f, 4))** ==> results in "6.7407E+21".
The existing Arduino print library only supports printing of floats and
doubles up to about 4E9 while the range of floats goes up to ~1E38. 
The smallest float values will often be printed as 0.00 while floats 
support down to about 1E-38 (subnormal even to 1E-45).
Existing (AVR) library functions **dtostrf()** has no scientific notation 
and **dtostre()** is limited to 7 decimals. These latter two are faster.
Values printed with **sci()** do look pretty in column output.

- **char \* eng(double value, uint8_t decimals)** converts a float or double to a 
char array. 
E.g. print(eng(f, 4)) ==> results in "6.7407E+21".
Note the exponent created by **eng()** is always a multiple of 3.
Values printed with **eng()** do not always look pretty in column output.
This is due to the exponent power of 3. However its output translates easy to
thousands, millions etc which are powers of 3.

- **char \* scieng(double value, uint8_t decimals, uint8_t exponentMultiple)** converts a 
float or double to a char array. 
**sci()** and **eng()** use the same underlying function called **scieng()** 
as the initial code for converting was almost identical.
Although not intended to be used directly, one can use it. 
The last parameter **exponentMultiple** defines where the exponent is a multiple of.
For the **sci()** function this is 1, for the **eng()** function this is 3.
The **scieng()** function works for multiples from 1..9 for the exponent.
The usability of other values than 1 and 3 are not known.
Personally I like the multiple of 2 as I get 2 orders of magnitude in the
mantissa.


#### toBytes()

- **char \* toBytes(double value, uint8_t decimals = 2)** makes from a big number 
representing an amount of bytes a shorter string usable for displaying.
The number of decimals is max 3
    Example  3.292.528 ==> "3.140 MB" 
Value ranges supported are in steps of powers of 1024. 
These will all be shown in UPPERCASE so KB, MB etc.  
List of prefixes:
- kilo mega giga tera (1024\^4)
- peta exa zetta yotta (1024\^8)
- xona weka vunda uda (1024\^12)  
treda Byte == TDB uses 2 chars to indicate the magnitude so that would 
take extra memory or more complex code.  
As it is seldom used, "official" support stops with UDA. 
Should be big enough for some time.  
To have some support the code uses lowercase for the next 8 levels:  
treda sorta rinta quexa pepta ocha nena minga luma (1024\^21 ~~ 10\^63)


#### hex() bin()

The default print() function of Arduino does not have leading zero's 
for **HEX** and **BIN**. 
This often causes a "broken" layout especially if one wants to print 
in columns or so.

To solve this the following functions are added that will generate a 
constant length char array. 
 
- **char \* hex(uint64_t value, uint8_t digits = 16)**
- **char \* hex(uint32_t value, uint8_t digits = 8)**
- **char \* hex(uint16_t value, uint8_t digits = 4)**
- **char \* hex(uint8_t value, uint8_t digits = 2)**
- **char \* bin(uint64_t value, uint8_t digits = 64)**
- **char \* bin(uint32_t value, uint8_t digits = 32)**
- **char \* bin(uint16_t value, uint8_t digits = 16)**
- **char \* bin(uint8_t value, uint8_t digits = 8)**

Note: Data types not supported, must be cast to an supported type.

Note: There is overlap between **hex(value)** and **print64(value, HEX)**. 
The latter does not produce the leading zero's or fixed length output.

----

More formatting functions might be added in the future.


## Shared buffer

The implementation of the function all use a shared buffer to hold the 
generated string. 
This is done to reduce the memory overhead of embedding static buffers. 
**Note this is not thread safe!**
In a coming release the functions will be able to pass a buffer to them 
to become more thread safe.

The size of this shared buffer is default 66 to be able to print a 64 bit 
integer in base 2. 
To save memory one can change this buffer size in the code or compile time 
by changing **PRINTBUFFERSIZE** in printHelpers.h.
Be aware that  **sci()** and **eng()** use the same buffer. 
These functions need about 10 bytes plus one bytes for every decimal used.
So for floats one need 15-20 bytes max, for doubles one need up to 30 bytes max.
In practice a size of 22 will work for most applications.

| PRINTBUFFERSIZE | BASE SUPPORTED | nr. decimals | Notes     |
|:---------------:|:--------------:|:------------:|:----------|
|     66          |    02 - 36     |    0 - 50    | (default) |
|     34          |    04 - 36     |    0 - 20    |
|     24          |    08 - 36     |    0 - 14    |
|     22          |    10 - 36     |    0 - 12    |
|     18          |    16 - 36     |    0 - 07    |

When functions are added, the recommended minimum size might increase.


## Operation

See examples.


## Future

#### Must

- check TODO's in the code

#### Should

- documentation
  - table for toBytes() - values KB, MB etc. (21 entries  3 x 7 ?) range etc.
- improve readability of the code


#### Could

- investigate thread safe version
  - pass char buffer as parameter (breaking)
  - could be the log10 pow version?
- investigate **toRoman()**
- investigate separators in **hex()**
  - space per 8, 4 or 2
- investigate distance print helpers.
  - feet(float cm) as 3'2" or  3-7/8 feet
  - inch(float cm) as 32" 
  - yards(float meter), 
  - miles(float kilometre)


#### Wont

- add **float()** as Arduino limits floats to "MAXLONG" by code.
  - use dtostrf() - is that portable?
  - use sci() or eng()
- add **base(value, digits, base)** for any base > 1.
  - only upon request.
- investigate separators in **bin()**
  - point or space, per 8 or 4 or 2
  - ==> printBuffer too small for bin(64) ==> need 75-100 bytes.
- Investigate performance and accuracy 
  - **sci()** and **eng()**.
  - investigate sci() version based upon use of log()
  - done => see examples.