VectorNumber

A library to add together anything: be it a number, string or random Object, it can be added together in an infinite-dimensional vector space, with math operations available on results.

This is similar in a sense to hypercomplex numbers, such as quaternions, but with a focus on arbitrary dimensions.

Similar projects:

• vector_space aims to provide typed vector spaces with limited dimensions and nice formatting.
• named_vector provides simple vectors with named dimensions.
• Various quaternion libraries.

Install with gem:

gem install vector_number

If using bundler, add gem to your Gemfile:

gem "vector_number"

Usage is pretty simple and intuitive:

require "vector_number"
VectorNumber["string"] + "str" # => (1⋅'string' + 1⋅'str')
VectorNumber[5] + VectorNumber["string"] - 0.5 # => (4.5 + 1⋅'string')
VectorNumber["string", "string", "string", "str"] # => (3⋅'string' + 1⋅'str')
VectorNumber[:s] * 2 + VectorNumber["string"] * 0.3 # => (2⋅s + 0.3⋅'string')
VectorNumber[:s] / 3 # => (1/3⋅s)
1/3r * VectorNumber[[]] # => (1/3⋅[])

VectorNumbers are mostly useful for summing up heterogeneous objects:

sum = VectorNumber[]
[4, "death", "death", 13, nil].each { sum = sum + _1 }
sum # => (17 + 2⋅'death' + 1⋅)
sum.to_a # => [[(0+0i), 17], ["death", 2], [nil, 1]]
sum.to_h # => {(0+0i)=>17, "death"=>2, nil=>1}

Alternatively, the same result can be equivalently (and more efficiently) achieved by passing all values to a constructor:

VectorNumber[4, "death", "death", 13, nil]
VectorNumber.new([4, "death", "death", 13, nil])

VectorNumber is developed on MRI (CRuby) but should work on other engines too.

• JRuby: should work, but currently CI does not pass.
• TruffleRuby: works as expected, but there are differences in core Ruby code, so some tests fail.
• Other engines: untested, but should work.

After checking out the repo, run bin/setup to install dependencies. Then, run rake spec to run the tests, rake rubocop to check code, rake steep to check typing or just rake to do everything. You can also run bin/console for an interactive prompt that will allow you to experiment.

To install this gem onto your local machine, run bundle exec rake install. To release a new version, update the version number in version.rb, change Next version in CHANGELOG.md, commit changes and tag the commit. Alternatively, an appropriate rake bump:{major|minor|patch} command can be used.

Bug reports and pull requests are welcome on GitHub at https://github.com/trinistr/vector_number.

The gem is available as open source under the terms of the MIT License.