Conversions

Developer notes for include/stratax/containers/Conversions.hpp.

Purpose

Provides helpers for converting between Stratax container shapes and casting container element types.

Main API

Shape Conversions

• to_vector(array)
• to_matrix(array)
• to_tensor(array)

Type Casting

• astype<To>(vector)
• astype<To>(matrix)
• astype<To>(tensor)

Invariants

• Conversion helpers return new owning containers.
• Shape-preserving conversions keep element order in flat storage order.
• to_vector only produces rank-1 vectors.
• to_matrix only produces rank-2 matrices.
• to_tensor preserves the input shape exactly.
• astype preserves container shape and element count.

Validation Notes

• to_vector requires rank 1 input through core::validation::require_rank().
• to_matrix requires rank 2 input through core::validation::require_rank().
• to_tensor accepts any supported array rank.
• Invalid rank conversions throw Exceptions::DimensionError.
• astype requires both source and destination element types to satisfy Numeric.
• Cast behavior follows static_cast.

Implementation Notes

• Conversion helpers preserve shape and copy linear buffer values with operator[].
• to_vector and to_matrix depend on destination constructors from Shape.
• astype supports Vector, Matrix, and Tensor.
• Returned containers own their own buffers.
• Rank validation should stay routed through Validation.hpp.

Time Complexity

• to_vector, to_matrix, and to_tensor are O(n + r).
• astype is O(n + r).
• Rank checks are O(1).

Future Work

• Move conversion helpers into a Stratax namespace.
• Add explicit narrowing or lossy-cast policy if needed.