nibbleArray

Arduino library for a compact array of nibbles (4 bit units).

Description

A nibble is a 4 bit element, which can hold a value 0..15 (0..F in HEX). It can be seen as an uint4_t type.

The nibbleArray is an array that stores 2 nibbles in a byte therefore it is twice as small as a normal array.

The current implementation can hold 510 elements. This is due a limitation of the UNO which can allocate max 255 bytes in one malloc() call.

This NIBBLEARRAY_MAXSIZE can be defined compile time "-D NIBBLEARRAY_MAXSIZE" or one can adjust it in the library if other platforms can allocate more memory.

Related

The BitArray library is one from a set of three:

• https://github.com/RobTillaart/BitArray for elements of user defined size in bits (values 0 .. 2^n-1).
• https://github.com/RobTillaart/BoolArray for elements of 1 bit (values 0 .. 1).
• https://github.com/RobTillaart/nibbleArray for elements of 4 bits or smaller (values 0 .. 15).

Interface

#include "nibbleArray.h"

Constructor

• nibbleArray(uint16_t size) constructor
• uint16_t size() returns the size of the array.
• uint16_t memory() returns the memory used in bytes.

Base

• uint8_t set(uint16_t index, uint8_t value) set a value in the nibbleArray. Index must be in range otherwise 0xFF = NIBBLEARRAY_ERROR_INDEX will be returned. If value > 15 it will be truncated.
• uint8_t get(uint16_t index) get value from the nibbleArray. Index must be in range otherwise 0xFF = NIBBLEARRAY_ERROR_INDEX will be returned.
• void clear() set all elements to 0.
• void SetAll(uint8_t value) set all elements to value (0..15). If value > 15 it will be truncated.

Future

Must

• add a begin() function that does the work now done in constructor (0.3.0)
  • similar to bitArray and BoolArray classes.

Should

• align interface with BoolArray and bitArray.
  • is there some base class?
  • align error codes.
• allow larger allocations for non AVR, how?
  • don't test for size, user responsibility?

Could

• implement NIBBLEARRAY_ERROR_VALUE for set and setAll ??
  • for now user responsibility.

Wont

• setAll( f() ) - fill the array by calling a function n times?

Support

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Thank you,