I use a lot of powers in a script for Unity, so I want to reduce the code needed for raising a variable to a power.
For small powers, I could use Mathf.Pow(a,2) = a*a, but I am looking for maybe something better or else I'll do my " a * a * a * a * a * a * a " tricks.
Note: I am a CEID undergraduate, and I have never used C# before, and it somehow bothers me that there isn't a '^' operator for raising to powers, maybe I could overload '^' if it is easy and not excessive time consuming.
EDIT: This is one of many MATLAB value assignments, I am trying to convert to C#, I wrote down on paper angle(a+bi) as atan(b/a), and I am doing it manually as I dont know of anything trustful to help me and I have a deadline problem:
q(2) = angle(d1*pz*2.0i-sqrt(d1*pz^3*4.0+d1^3*pz*4.0-a1^4-a2^4-a3^4-d1^4-py^4-pz^4-C1^4*px^4+C1^2*py^4*2.0-C1^4*py^4+a1^2*a2^2*2.0+a1^2*a3^2*2.0+a2^2*a3^2*2.0-a1^2*d1^2*2.0+a2^2*d1^2*2.0+a3^2*d1^2*2.0-a1^2*py^2*6.0-a2^2*py^2*2.0+a3^2*py^2*2.0-a1^2*pz^2*2.0+a2^2*pz^2*2.0+a3^2*pz^2*2.0-d1^2*py^2*2.0-d1^2*pz^2*6.0-py^2*pz^2*2.0+d1*py^2*pz*4.0+C1^3*a1*px^3*4.0+S1^3*a1*py^3*4.0-C1^2*a1^2*px^2*6.0+C1^2*a2^2*px^2*2.0+C1^2*a3^2*px^2*2.0+C1^2*a1^2*py^2*6.0+C1^2*a2^2*py^2*1.0e1-C1^2*a3^2*py^2*2.0-C1^4*a2^2*py^2*1.2e1+C1^6*a2^2*py^2*4.0-C1^2*d1^2*px^2*2.0+C1^2*d1^2*py^2*2.0-C1^2*px^2*py^2*6.0+C1^4*px^2*py^2*6.0-C1^2*px^2*pz^2*2.0+C1^2*py^2*pz^2*2.0+S1^6*a2^2*py^2*4.0+C1*a1^3*px*4.0+S1*a1^3*py*4.0+a1^2*d1*pz*4.0-a2^2*d1*pz*4.0-a3^2*d1*pz*4.0-C1*a1*a2^2*px*4.0-C1*a1*a3^2*px*4.0-C1*S1*px^3*py*4.0+C1*a1*d1^2*px*4.0+C1*a1*px*py^2*1.2e1+C1*a1*px*pz^2*4.0+S1*a1*a2^2*py*4.0-S1*a1*a3^2*py*4.0+S1*a1*d1^2*py*4.0+S1*a1*px^2*py*4.0+S1*a1*py*pz^2*4.0-C1*S1^3*px*py^3*4.0+C1*S1^3*px^3*py*4.0-C1^3*a1*px*py^2*1.2e1-S1^3*a1*a2^2*py*8.0+C1^2*d1*px^2*pz*4.0-C1^2*d1*py^2*pz*4.0-S1^3*a1*px^2*py*4.0-C1*a1*d1*px*pz*8.0-S1*a1*d1*py*pz*8.0-C1*S1*a1^2*px*py*1.2e1-C1*S1*a2^2*px*py*4.0+C1*S1*a3^2*px*py*4.0-C1*S1*d1^2*px*py*4.0-C1*S1*px*py*pz^2*4.0-C1^2*S1*a1*a2^2*py*8.0+C1^2*S1*a1*px^2*py*8.0+C1*S1^3*a2^2*px*py*8.0+C1^3*S1*a2^2*px*py*8.0+C1*S1*d1*px*py*pz*8.0)-a1^2*1i-a2^2*1i+a3^2*1i-d1^2*1i-py^2*1i-pz^2*1i-C1^2*px^2*1i+C1^2*py^2*1i+C1*a1*px*2.0i+S1*a1*py*2.0i-C1*S1*px*py*2.0i)-angle(-a2*(a1*-1i-d1+pz+C1*px*1i+S1^3*py*1i+C1^2*S1*py*1i));
C# doesn't allow you to override operators in quite this way - ^ is simply XOR and you can't change it.
If you want to save on typing, you could write an extension method:
public static int Pow(this int base, int exponent)
{
// Return the exponentiated value
}
Which allows you to write e.g.
42.Pow(2)
However, I wouldn't recommend doing that. Code is read more often than it is written, and the few extra characters don't quite justify an extension method.
If you really want to go for the "as few characters as possible approach", you might have a lot better success with a language like F#, which allows you to define your own inline operators, for example. And VB.NET already has ^ that does what you want.