Solidity libraries

Reference: http://solidity.readthedocs.io/en/v0.4.21/contracts.html

Libraries are similar to contracts, but their purpose is that they are deployed only once at a specific address and their code is reused using the DELEGATECALL (CALLCODE until Homestead) feature of the EVM. This means that if library functions are called, their code is executed in the context of the calling contract, i.e. this points to the calling contract, and especially the storage from the calling contract can be accessed. As a library is an isolated piece of source code, it can only access state variables of the calling contract if they are explicitly supplied (it would have no way to name them, otherwise). Library functions can only be called directly (i.e. without the use of DELEGATECALL) if they do not modify the state (i.e. if they are view or pure functions), because libraries are assumed to be stateless. In particular, it is not possible to destroy a library unless Solidity’s type system is circumvented.

Libraries can be seen as implicit base contracts of the contracts that use them. They will not be explicitly visible in the inheritance hierarchy, but calls to library functions look just like calls to functions of explicit base contracts (L.f() if L is the name of the library). Furthermore, internalfunctions of libraries are visible in all contracts, just as if the library were a base contract. Of course, calls to internal functions use the internal calling convention, which means that all internal types can be passed and memory types will be passed by reference and not copied. To realize this in the EVM, code of internal library functions and all functions called from therein will at compile time be pulled into the calling contract, and a regular JUMP call will be used instead of a DELEGATECALL.

The following example illustrates how to use libraries (but be sure to check out using for for a more advanced example to implement a set).

pragma solidity ^0.4.16;
library Set {
  // We define a new struct datatype that will be used to
  // hold its data in the calling contract.
  struct Data { mapping(uint => bool) flags; }
  // Note that the first parameter is of type "storage
  // reference" and thus only its storage address and not
  // its contents is passed as part of the call.  This is a
  // special feature of library functions.  It is idiomatic
  // to call the first parameter `self`, if the function can
  // be seen as a method of that object.
  function insert(Data storage self, uint value)
      public
      returns (bool)
  {
      if (self.flags[value])
          return false; // already there
      self.flags[value] = true;
      return true;
  }
  function remove(Data storage self, uint value)
      public
      returns (bool)
  {
      if (!self.flags[value])
          return false; // not there
      self.flags[value] = false;
      return true;
  }
  function contains(Data storage self, uint value)
      public
      view
      returns (bool)
  {
      return self.flags[value];
  }
}
contract C {
    Set.Data knownValues;
    function register(uint value) public {
        // The library functions can be called without a
        // specific instance of the library, since the
        // "instance" will be the current contract.
        require(Set.insert(knownValues, value));
    }
    // In this contract, we can also directly access knownValues.flags, if we want.
}
pragma solidity ^0.4.16;

library BigInt {
    struct bigint {
        uint[] limbs;
    }

    function fromUint(uint x) internal pure returns (bigint r) {
        r.limbs = new uint[](1);
        r.limbs[0] = x;
    }

    function add(bigint _a, bigint _b) internal pure returns (bigint r) {
        r.limbs = new uint[](max(_a.limbs.length, _b.limbs.length));
        uint carry = 0;
        for (uint i = 0; i < r.limbs.length; ++i) {
            uint a = limb(_a, i);
            uint b = limb(_b, i);
            r.limbs[i] = a + b + carry;
            if (a + b < a || (a + b == uint(-1) && carry > 0))
                carry = 1;
            else
                carry = 0;
        }
        if (carry > 0) {
            // too bad, we have to add a limb
            uint[] memory newLimbs = new uint[](r.limbs.length + 1);
            for (i = 0; i < r.limbs.length; ++i)
                newLimbs[i] = r.limbs[i];
            newLimbs[i] = carry;
            r.limbs = newLimbs;
        }
    }

    function limb(bigint _a, uint _limb) internal pure returns (uint) {
        return _limb < _a.limbs.length ? _a.limbs[_limb] : 0;
    }

    function max(uint a, uint b) private pure returns (uint) {
        return a > b ? a : b;
    }
}

contract C {
    using BigInt for BigInt.bigint;

    function f() public pure {
        var x = BigInt.fromUint(7);
        var y = BigInt.fromUint(uint(-1));
        var z = x.add(y);
    }
}

Note that the add function requires 2 arguments, but when we declare using BigInt for BitInt.bigint, the bigint we call the function on (x) is automatically passed in as the first argument.