feat: Integration with fast_float

deps/Makefile

@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ distclean:
 	-(cd jemalloc && [ -f Makefile ] && $(MAKE) distclean) > /dev/null || true
 	-(cd hdr_histogram && $(MAKE) clean) > /dev/null || true
 	-(cd fpconv && $(MAKE) clean) > /dev/null || true
+	-(cd fast_float && $(MAKE) clean) > /dev/null || true
 	-(rm -f .make-*)
 
 .PHONY: distclean
@@ -74,6 +75,12 @@ fpconv: .make-prerequisites
 
 .PHONY: fpconv
 
+fast_float: .make-prerequisites
+	@printf '%b %b\n' $(MAKECOLOR)MAKE$(ENDCOLOR) $(BINCOLOR)$@$(ENDCOLOR)
+	cd fast_float && $(MAKE)
+
+.PHONY: fast_float
+
 ifeq ($(uname_S),SunOS)
 	# Make isinf() available
 	LUA_CFLAGS= -D__C99FEATURES__=1

deps/fast_float/Makefile

@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+# Author: Roshan Swain <[email protected]>
+
+CXX?=g++
+CXXFLAGS=-std=c++11 -O3 -fPIC
+AR=ar
+ARFLAGS=rcs
+
+SOURCES=fast_float_strtod.cpp
+OBJECTS=$(SOURCES:.cpp=.o)
+TARGET=libfast_float.a
+
+all: $(TARGET)
+
+$(TARGET): $(OBJECTS)
+	$(AR) $(ARFLAGS) $@ $^
+
+%.o: %.cpp
+	$(CXX) $(CXXFLAGS) -c $< -o $@
+
+clean:
+	rm -f $(OBJECTS) $(TARGET)
+
+.PHONY: all clean

deps/fast_float/README.md

@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+# FAST_FLOAT
+
+The fast_float library provides fast header-only implementations for the C++ from_chars
+functions for `float` and `double` types as well as integer types.  These functions convert ASCII strings representing decimal values (e.g., `1.3e10`) into binary types. We provide exact rounding (including
+round to even). In our experience, these `fast_float` functions many times faster than comparable number-parsing functions from existing C++ standard libraries.
+
+Specifically, `fast_float` provides the following two functions to parse floating-point numbers with a C++17-like syntax (the library itself only requires C++11):
+
+```C++
+from_chars_result from_chars(const char* first, const char* last, float& value, ...);
+from_chars_result from_chars(const char* first, const char* last, double& value, ...);
+```
+
+## INTEGRATION
+
+1. `fast_float_strtod` is a wrapper around the `from_chars` function.
+
+## RESOURCES
+
+1. fast_float: https://github.com/fastfloat/fast_float
+
+
+...REMOVE THIS LATER...
+
+- [x] Create the wrapper.
+- [] Compile it.
+- [] Replace it with strtod.
+- [] Benchmark it.
+- [] Run it on different platforms.
+