qobject: Explain how QNum works, and why

Backports commit f90cb2846a0b167d47131ba4600dcc816bccb1c6 from qemu
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Markus Armbruster 2018-03-07 16:58:40 -05:00 committed by Lioncash
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commit e1a055bd73
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@ -23,6 +23,27 @@ typedef enum {
QNUM_DOUBLE
} QNumKind;
/*
* QNum encapsulates how our dialect of JSON fills in the blanks left
* by the JSON specification (RFC 7159) regarding numbers.
*
* Conceptually, we treat number as an abstract type with three
* concrete subtypes: floating-point, signed integer, unsigned
* integer. QNum implements this as a discriminated union of double,
* int64_t, uint64_t.
*
* The JSON parser picks the subtype as follows. If the number has a
* decimal point or an exponent, it is floating-point. Else if it
* fits into int64_t, it's signed integer. Else if it fits into
* uint64_t, it's unsigned integer. Else it's floating-point.
*
* Any number can serve as double: qnum_get_double() converts under
* the hood.
*
* An integer can serve as signed / unsigned integer as long as it is
* in range: qnum_get_try_int() / qnum_get_try_uint() check range and
* convert under the hood.
*/
struct QNum {
QObject base;
QNumKind kind;