Introduction

Numbers is an utility class for creating in a succinct way big intergers and big decimals.

The problem

Java language does not offer any way to declare big decimal nor big integer literals. While it is easy, for example to construct Long objects - thanks to autoboxing - just writing 1L, there is no equivalent for the already mentioned frequently used number types. There are only two ways of instantiating them: by calling its constructors or by valueOf class methods.

The problem with the first alternative is that it bypass frequently used long values caches, so it should be avoided. The second alternative is clumsy, due to the long factory method names. Their are neither IDE friendly, adding them to a static imports autocomplete list may be trick, as both factory methods of big decimals and big integers are named in the same way.

The solution

Configure your IDE to automatically import net.sf.staccatocommons.lang.number.Numbers when needed, and you will have BigDecimal/BigInteger "literals":

    ...
    //Equivalent to BigInteger.valueOf(900)
    BigInteger initialPopulation = i(900);
    
    ....
    //distance is 15906 × 10^-3
    //Equivalent to BigDecimal.valueOf(15906,3)
    BigDecimal distance = d(15906, 3);
    
    //Or, If you prefer E-notation:
    BigDecimal distance = e(15906,-3);
    
    ...
    //salary is 5000. 
    //Equivalent to BigDecimal.valueOf(5000)
    BigDecimal salary = d(5000);