migration notes (#38)

README.md

@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 # noir-bignum
 
+> [!WARNING]  
+> If you're updating from release 0.3.7 to 0.4.0, please read these [migration notes](./migration_notes.md), because there are significant breaking changes.
+
 An optimized big number library for Noir.
 
 noir-bignum evaluates modular arithmetic for large integers of any length.

migration_notes.md

@@ -0,0 +1,101 @@
+# Migration notes: 0.3.7 to 0.4.0
+
+This lib got a big refactor for release 0.4.0.
+
+Here's a summary of changes that will hopefull help you update.
+
+For a quick overview, see the updated [README](./README.md).
+
+## An extra generic param
+
+Previously, a BigNum type was declared as:
+
+`type MyBigNum = BigNum<3, MyParams>;`
+
+where `3` was the number of limbs of your bignum, and `MyParams` is either a prebuild struct of `Params` from the `fields/` dir of this library, or your own custom set of params.
+
+Now, we need to also specify an extra param: the number of bits in the modulus.
+
+E.g.
+
+`type MyBigNum = BigNum<3, 254, MyParams>;`
+
+## Runtime BigNums are very different
+
+Recall that runtime bignums need to be used instead of `BigNum`, if the parameters of the bignum (e.g. the modulus) are not known at compile-time, but instead only known at runtime.
+
+Headlines:
+- Runtime BigNums now have their own dedicated struct: `RuntimeBigNum`, instead of using `BigNum` for this purpose.
+- `RuntimeBigNum` values can be operated-on with overloaded operators `==,+,-,*,/`, 
+    - But heed the warning (which was also true in the old version of bignum): that usage of these operators might not be as efficient (constraint-wise) as saving-up operations and instead executing `evaluate_quadratic_constraint()`.
+- An instance of the runtime-known `params: BigNumParams` needs to be passed into the constructors of `RuntimeBigNum`s.
+- `BigNum` and `RuntimeBigNum` now have the same set of methods available to them, it's just that `RuntimeBigNum` constructors will need to be given some runtime-computed `params: BigNumParams`.
+
+
+### Example
+
+Previously, runtime bignum operations were executed via an instance of a `BigNumInstance`.
+
+Old code:
+
+```rust
+fn test_sub() {
+    // Get some params, which we assume in this example are only known at runtime.
+    let bn = MyParams::get_instance();
+
+    // Notice the extra "modulus bits" generic param of 254.
+    let mut a: BigNum<3, 254, MyParams> = BigNum::new(); // 0
+    let mut b: BigNum<3, 254, MyParams> = BigNum::one(); // 1
+
+    // Notice how the `sub` operation is orchestrated via the `bn` instance:
+    let result = bn.sub(a, b);
+
+    let mut expected: BigNum<3, MyParams> = bn.modulus();
+    expected.limbs[0] -= 1; // p - 1
+
+    // Notice how the `eq`  operation is orchestrated via the `bn` instance:
+    assert(bn.eq(result, expected));
+}
+```
+
+New code:
+
+The above code would need to be changed to something like this:
+
+```rust
+fn test_sub() {
+    // Get some params, which we assume in this example are only known at runtime.
+    let params = MyParams::get_params(); // Notice the changed function name.
+
+    // Notice there is a new struct called `RuntimeBigNum` specifically for bignums
+    // whose parameters are not known at compile-time, instead of using `BigNum` in 
+    // this scenario.
+
+    // Notice the extra "modulus bits" generic param of 254.
+
+    // Notice the runtime-known `params` need to be passed into RuntimeBigNum constructors.
+    let mut a: RuntimeBigNum<3, 254> = RuntimeBigNum::new(params); // 0 
+    let mut b: RuntimeBigNum<3, 254> = RuntimeBigNum::one(params); // 1
+
+    // Notice, you can operate on `a` and `b` without a "big num instance" 
+    // orchestrating it.
+
+    // Notice, `a` and `b` can be operated-on via overloaded operators ==,+,-,*,/, 
+    // just like their `BigNum` counterparts. 
+
+    // But heed the warning (which was also true in the old version of bignum): that 
+    // usage of these operators might not be as efficient (constraint-wise)
+    // as saving-up operations and instead executing `evaluate_quadratic_constraint()`.
+    let result = a - b;
+
+    let mut expected: RuntimeBigNum<3, 254> = RuntimeBigNum { limbs: params.modulus, params };
+    expected.limbs[0] -= 1; // p - 1
+    // Alternatively to this line, you could do:
+    // let mut expected = a.modulus();
+    // expected.limbs[0] -= 1; // p - 1
+    // (we just wanted to show a bit more machinery in this example)
+
+    // Notice that RuntimeBigNum supports ==, +, -, *, /.
+    assert(result == expected);
+}
+```