(chore) printing integers as integers instead of fields

[jtfirek]

Description

I am working on a solution to #2401 and I have ran into a blocker on this.
Here is where I am blocked for reference:
https://github.com/jtfirek/noir/blob/6ec4d4aed7127738ac73b01d0ea411859a970bf4/crates/noirc_printable_type/src/lib.rs#L163-L168

Problem*

The implementation for this field element struct doesn't seem to currently have a way to cover field elements into a signed value. should I add an implementation for this?

https://github.com/noir-lang/acvm/blob/0d6656b0784e76047484c17a98d08d6913270cd0/acir_field/src/generic_ark.rs#L223-L238

[Savio-Sou]

Hi @jtfirek, thanks a lot for submitting the PR!

@vezenovm any thoughts on the problems raised?

[jfecher]

@jtfirek signed integers are represented in two's complement so e.g.

let x: i8 = -1;
let y: i8 = -2;

dep::std::println(x);
dep::std::println(y);
dep::std::println(x as Field);
dep::std::println(x as Field);

Will print:

0xff
0xfe
0xff
0xfe

So if you want to print a signed integer from a field value like 0xff you can grab the integer value directly as a u128 then just cast it to a signed integer of the correct size - or more likely truncate it yourself since there are so many integer types. You can add an implementation for this conversion if you want or include it elsewhere in your PR.

Sorry for the long delay for a response!

[grasshopper47]

@jfecher @jtfirek see this PR: #3577

[Savio-Sou]

Superseded by #3577.

Thank you all for the contributions!