Move bit_cast from base/macros.h to its own header

base/bit_cast.h

+// Copyright 2016 The Chromium Authors. All rights reserved.
+// Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style license that can be
+// found in the LICENSE file.
+
+#ifndef BASE_BIT_CAST_H_
+#define BASE_BIT_CAST_H_
+
+#include <string.h>
+
+// bit_cast<Dest,Source> is a template function that implements the equivalent
+// of "*reinterpret_cast<Dest*>(&source)".  We need this in very low-level
+// functions like the protobuf library and fast math support.
+//
+//   float f = 3.14159265358979;
+//   int i = bit_cast<int32_t>(f);
+//   // i = 0x40490fdb
+//
+// The classical address-casting method is:
+//
+//   // WRONG
+//   float f = 3.14159265358979;            // WRONG
+//   int i = * reinterpret_cast<int*>(&f);  // WRONG
+//
+// The address-casting method actually produces undefined behavior according to
+// the ISO C++98 specification, section 3.10 ("basic.lval"), paragraph 15.
+// (This did not substantially change in C++11.)  Roughly, this section says: if
+// an object in memory has one type, and a program accesses it with a different
+// type, then the result is undefined behavior for most values of "different
+// type".
+//
+// This is true for any cast syntax, either *(int*)&f or
+// *reinterpret_cast<int*>(&f).  And it is particularly true for conversions
+// between integral lvalues and floating-point lvalues.
+//
+// The purpose of this paragraph is to allow optimizing compilers to assume that
+// expressions with different types refer to different memory.  Compilers are
+// known to take advantage of this.  So a non-conforming program quietly
+// produces wildly incorrect output.
+//
+// The problem is not the use of reinterpret_cast.  The problem is type punning:
+// holding an object in memory of one type and reading its bits back using a
+// different type.
+//
+// The C++ standard is more subtle and complex than this, but that is the basic
+// idea.
+//
+// Anyways ...
+//
+// bit_cast<> calls memcpy() which is blessed by the standard, especially by the
+// example in section 3.9 .  Also, of course, bit_cast<> wraps up the nasty
+// logic in one place.
+//
+// Fortunately memcpy() is very fast.  In optimized mode, compilers replace
+// calls to memcpy() with inline object code when the size argument is a
+// compile-time constant.  On a 32-bit system, memcpy(d,s,4) compiles to one
+// load and one store, and memcpy(d,s,8) compiles to two loads and two stores.
+//
+// WARNING: if Dest or Source is a non-POD type, the result of the memcpy
+// is likely to surprise you.
+
+template <class Dest, class Source>
+inline Dest bit_cast(const Source& source) {

[brettw, 2016/01/13 19:16:23]

We can do this in a follow-up if you prefer, but this should really be in the
base namespace. The macros header is kind of a mess and it looks like only some
of the stuff is in the right namespace.

[tapted, 2016/01/13 21:59:27]

Yeah I considered moving it to base:: at the same time early on... I'll make a
follow-up CL.

+  static_assert(sizeof(Dest) == sizeof(Source),
+                "bit_cast requires source and destination to be the same size");
+
+  Dest dest;
+  memcpy(&dest, &source, sizeof(dest));
+  return dest;
+}
+
+#endif  // BASE_BIT_CAST_H_