Packing and unpacking vector of NTL polynomials

[sknc]

Hello Marcel,

I am creating a data type that uses a vector of NTL::GF2X polynomials named value and am trying to figure out how to pack and unpack it. I came up with the following. Does it seem along the right lines? (BTW, modulus is the polynomial used to initialize the GF2E I am using.)

void pack(octetStream& stream) {
        stream.store(value.length());
        size_t numBytes = deg(modulus) + 1;
        for(auto& poly: value) {
            unsigned char* c;
            NTL::BytesFromGF2X(c, poly, numBytes);
            stream.store_bytes(c, numBytes);
        }
}
void unpack(octetStream& stream) {
        long len;
        stream.get(len);
        size_t numBytes = deg(modulus) + 1;
        for(long i = 0; i < len; i++) {
            unsigned char* c;
            stream.get_bytes(c, numBytes);
            NTL::GF2XFromBytes(value[i], c, numBytes);
        }
}

[mkskeller]

I don't the NTL function but you cannot use unallocated pointers, that is, you need to allocate some memory for c to point at. See the following for an introduction: https://cplusplus.com/doc/tutorial/dynamic/

[sknc]

The NTL functions convert a polynomial in NTL::GF2X to a byte array and vice versa.