//  ============================================================
//
//  traits.h
//
//  Copyright 2002, Dennis Meilicke and Rene Peralta
//
//  ============================================================
//
//  Description:
//
//  This includes the two traits class headers.  For more
//  information, see the comments below, and in the other two
//  headers.
//
//  ============================================================
#ifndef __nttl_traits__
#define __nttl_traits__


//  ===========================================================
//
//  Traits class
//
//  OK.  I'm not sure if this is a really good name or not.
//  I've modeled this after the traits classes in the STL, so
//  I also naturally borrowed the name.
//
//  I the case of nttl, the traits class serves two functions.
//  First, it should provide some information about the 
//  specialized type.  In the case of scalars, this might
//  include things like the size in bits.  A second function
//  is to contain some common methods that are used by the 
//  nttl algorithms.
//
//  Why put methods in the traits class?  Again two reasons.
//  First, we need to abstract some functions (like Square)
//  which may simply not exist for a particular type (Square
//  does not exist for longs).  Second, there are some
//  functions (mod 8) which can be done faster if we know the
//  underlying structure of the type.  A large integer type
//  would do an '& 7' with the least significant digit, rather
//  than an expensive division operation.
//
//  ===========================================================
//
//  The methods of the default traits class are intended to be
//  sufficient for PODs (int, long, etc), but may not be very
//  good for a proper class.
//
//  The Power method is not as efficient as it could be; the
//  left to right algorithm is more efficient.  Still, for a
//  POD, you probably won't notice the difference.
//
//  ===========================================================


#include <nttl/traitsD.h>
#include <nttl/traitsI.h>


#endif // __nttl_traits__