converting from BigInt to BitArray

what would be best way to convert object using rust from bigint (BigInt) to bits (BitArray<217>) also in reverse (example below)

using binary to decimal calculator I verified by hand that bigint and bits equate


let bigint = BigInt::parse_bytes("141644482300309102636663083870634002744809361056209271964506585197".as_ref(), 10);

to 

let bits = BitArray::new( [1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1]);

crates ref.

for BigInt: https://crates.io/crates/num-bigint (num-bigint = "0.4.3")

for BitArray: https://crates.io/crates/bitarray (bitarray = "0.10.0")

Solution

Couple of misconceptions:

You can't convert a size known at runtime (BigInt) to a size known at compile time (BitArray)
BigInt is signed, but at no point during your conversion you consider signedness. You probably want to use BigUint instead if you want to ignore signedness.
Your BitArray for comparison only consists of 1 and 0 values. bitarray::BitArray, however, is meant as bytes, meaning, each value is 8 bits, valued from 0 to 255. If you convert it, the value is actually BitArray::new([1, 88, 81, 147, 230, 162, 120, 203, 210, 232, 153, 239, 115, 92, 222, 74, 147, 18, 216, 202, 55, 207, 181, 126, 72, 92, 248, 109]) and 28 long.
bitarray::BitArray does not seem to be able to iterate over it bitwise, so I don't know how useful this library is for you. The fact that it forces compile time size is also not compatible with your usecase. You should probably choose a different library. The entire concept of a "bit array" is probably not what you want, you probably want a "bit vector" instead with a runtime size.

That said, bitarray consists of packed bits, meaning 8 bits per value (or more). If you want a pure Vec<bool>, you don't need any of this, you can directly convert it to that:

use num_bigint::BigUint;

fn main() {
    let bigint = BigUint::parse_bytes(
        "141644482300309102636663083870634002744809361056209271964506585197".as_ref(),
        10,
    )
    .unwrap();

    let bits = bigint
        .to_bytes_be()
        .into_iter()
        .flat_map(|val| {
            [
                (val >> 7) & 1,
                (val >> 6) & 1,
                (val >> 5) & 1,
                (val >> 4) & 1,
                (val >> 3) & 1,
                (val >> 2) & 1,
                (val >> 1) & 1,
                (val >> 0) & 1,
            ]
            .into_iter()
        })
        .collect::<Vec<_>>();

    println!("{:?}", bits);
}

[0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1]

Not that the value you give seems to be little-endian, while this one is big-endian.

Here is an even shorter version, utilizing the crate bitvec:

use bitvec::{order::Msb0, vec::BitVec};
use num_bigint::BigUint;

fn main() {
    let bigint = BigUint::parse_bytes(
        "141644482300309102636663083870634002744809361056209271964506585197".as_ref(),
        10,
    )
    .unwrap();

    let bits: BitVec<_, Msb0> = BitVec::from_vec(bigint.to_bytes_be());
    println!("{}", bits);
}

[0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1]

Or, if you prefer little endian:

use bitvec::{order::Lsb0, vec::BitVec};
use num_bigint::BigUint;

fn main() {
    let bigint = BigUint::parse_bytes(
        "141644482300309102636663083870634002744809361056209271964506585197".as_ref(),
        10,
    )
    .unwrap();

    let bits: BitVec<_, Lsb0> = BitVec::from_vec(bigint.to_bytes_le());
    println!("{}", bits);
}

[1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0]

Note that while bits is packed, you can still iterate over it bitwise. If you want to convert it to a u8 vector, do:

let bits_u8: Vec<u8> = bits.into_iter().map(Into::into).collect();