SoulverCore is a math engine that calculates day-to-day mathematical expressions.
The design goals of SoulverCore are:
- Sensible defaults appropriate for most use-cases (simple things are easy!)
- A high level of customisability (complex things are possible!)
- Excellent performance
SoulverCore is the math engine from the popular notepad calculator app Soulver. Soulver has been available on Apple's platforms since 2005.
Soulver uses exactly the same version of SoulverCore that is available here. Everything you can do in Soulver, you can do using SoulverCore.
SoulverCore has been designed to have no 3rd party dependencies. It is written in 100% Swift.
- Lacona - a powerful natural language assistant/launcher for macOS
- Toolbox Pro - calculate with Soulver as part of your Siri Shortcuts on iOS
- Xcode 12+
- Swift 5.4+
- SoulverCore is distributed as a binary framework (.xcframework) and includes builds for macOS (universal), iOS/iPadOS, and Mac Catalyst.
Xcode 12 and later lets you integrate SoulverCore into your project using the Swift Package Manager.
In Xcode, go File > Swift Packages > Add Package Dependency and paste in the URL of this repository (https://github.com/soulverteam/SoulverCore).
Drag SoulverCore.xcframework
into the Frameworks, Libraries, and Embedded Content
section of the General settings for your Mac or iOS target.
To calculate the result of a single expression, use a Calculator
object:
import SoulverCore
let calculator = Calculator(customization: .standard)
let result = calculator.calculate("123 + 456")
print("The answer is \(result.stringValue)") // prints 579
SoulverCore can perform all sorts of calculations, including unit conversions, date & calendar math, rate calculations, percentage phrase functions, time zone conversions, and much more. It also cleverly ignores "meaningless" words:
calculator.calculate("$10 for lunch + 15% tip") // $11.50
calculator.calculate("65 kg in pounds") // 154.32 lb
calculator.calculate("40 as % of 90") // 44.44%
calculator.calculate("$150 is 25% on what") // $120
calculator.calculate("$25/hour * 14 hours of work") // $350.00
calculator.calculate("January 30 2020 + 3 months 2 weeks 5 days") // 19 May
calculator.calculate("9:35am in New York to Japan") // 10:35 pm
calculator.calculate("$25k over 10 years at 7.5%") // $51,525.79 (compound interest)
Use a VariableList
to set values for words or phrases in your expression:
let variableList = VariableList(variables:
[
Variable(name: "a", value: "123"),
Variable(name: "b", value: "456"),
]
)
calculator.calculate("a + b", with: variableList) // 579
You can add custom units to an EngineCustomization
object required by the intializer on Calculator
or LineCollection
.
/// A good omakase EngineCustomization (the same used by Soulver.app)
var customization: EngineCustomization = .standard
/// Set an array of custom units defined in terms of an existing unit in SoulverCore
customization.customUnits = [
CustomUnit(name: "parrots", definition: 15, equivalentUnit: .centimeters),
CustomUnit(name: "python", definition: 570, equivalentUnit: .centimeters)
]
/// Create a Calculator using this customization
let calculator = Calculator(customization: customization)
/// python and parrots are now recognized as units
calculator.calculate("1 python in parrots") // 38 parrots
Use a LineCollection
to represent a collection of lines to be evaluated. Like Calculator
, you can customize the way a LineCollection interprets expressions with an EngineCustomization
.
let multiLineText =
"""
a = 10
b = 20
c = a + b
"""
let lineCollection = LineCollection(multiLineText:
multiLineText, customization: .standard)
/// Calculate the result of each line (synchronously)
lineCollection.evaluateAll()
/// Use subscripts to get access to particular lines' results
let result = lineCollection[2].result // 30
The .standard
EngineCustomization
includes rates for 170 real-world currencies (that were accurate at the time the framework was last compiled).
You can (and should) update these currencies to the latest rates by setting valid API key credentials for CurrencyLayer (for fiat currencies) and Nomics (for crypto currencies) on the shared CurrencyList
.
Alternatively use the .popular
currency set to pull 33 common fiat currency rates from the European Central Bank, no API key required.
To fetch the latest rates, use SoulverCore's shared CurrencyList
:
/// 33 popular currencies from the ECB, updated every weekday.
CurrencyList.shared.defaultCurrencySet = .popular
CurrencyList.shared.refreshRates { (success) in
if success {
/// The standard customization will now have the latest currency rates applied
let calculator = Calculator(customization: .standard)
let result = calculator.calculate("10 USD in EUR")
}
}
SoulverCore respects the decimal separator and thousands separator of the system locale. Alternatively, you can convert the standard EngineCustomization to another locale:
let europeanLocale = Locale(identifier: "en_DE")
let localizedCustomization = EngineCustomization.standard.convertTo(locale: europeanLocale)
let calculator = Calculator(customization: localizedCustomization)
/// In Germany a comma is used as a decimal separator
calculator.calculate("1,2 + 3,4") // 4,6
Use a FormattingPreferences
to customize the way your result is formatted (how many decimal places to include, should the thousands separator be inserted, etc).
var formattingPreferences = FormattingPreferences()
formattingPreferences.dp = 2 // decimal places
calculator.formattingPreferences = formattingPreferences
calculator.calculate("ฯ") // 3.14
SoulverCore is fast. You can disable certain features for even greater performance (see EngineCustomization.featureFlags
), but with the complete feature set most expressions are processed in 1-5 ms on an Intel Mac, and <1ms on an Apple Silicon Mac.
Like the original Safari team, performance is measured after every change and commits with performance regressions are not accepted.
In addition to English, SoulverCore is fully localized into German ๐ฉ๐ช, Russian ๐ท๐บ, and simplified Chinese ๐จ๐ณ. Support for additional romance languages (French, Spanish, etc) is planned for 2022.
Adding calculation capabilities to an NSTextView or UITextView
See the SoulverTextKit project for an example of how to integrate the SoulverCore math engine into a standard macOS or iOS text view.
You may use SoulverCore in personal or private projects. Please email us if you wish to use SoulverCore in a publicly available, or commercial project. We have various options available depending on your needs, including a free (with attribution) license.