Add constrained conversion functions

Cargo.toml

@@ -35,3 +35,6 @@ rustc_serialize = "0.3"
 [dependencies]
 num = "0.1"
 rand = "0.3"
+
+[dev-dependencies]
+glium = "0.13.5"

src/conv.rs

@@ -0,0 +1,84 @@
+//! Constrained conversion functions for assisting in situations where type
+//! inference is difficult.
+//!
+//! For example, when declaring `glium` uniforms, we need to convert to fixed
+//! length arrays. We can use the `Into` trait directly, but it is rather ugly!
+//!
+//! ```rust
+//! #[macro_use]
+//! extern crate glium;
+//! extern crate cgmath;
+//!
+//! use cgmath::{Matrix4, Point2};
+//! use cgmath::prelude::*;
+//!
+//! # fn main() {
+//! let point = Point2::new(1, 2);
+//! let matrix = Matrix4::from_scale(2.0);
+//!
+//! let uniforms = uniform! {
+//!     point: Into::<[_; 2]>::into(point),
+//!     matrix: Into::<[[_; 4]; 4]>::into(matrix),
+//!     // Yuck!! (ﾉಥ益ಥ）ﾉ ┻━┻
+//! };
+//! # }
+//! ```
+//!
+//! Instead, we can use the conversion functions from the `conv` module:
+//!
+//! ```rust
+//! #[macro_use]
+//! extern crate glium;
+//! extern crate cgmath;
+//!
+//! use cgmath::{Matrix4, Point2};
+//! use cgmath::prelude::*;
+//! use cgmath::conv::*;
+//!
+//! # fn main() {
+//! let point = Point2::new(1, 2);
+//! let matrix = Matrix4::from_scale(2.0);
+//!
+//! let uniforms = uniform! {
+//!     point: array2(point),
+//!     matrix: array4x4(matrix),
+//!     // ┬─┬ノ( º _ ºノ)
+//! };
+//! # }
+//! ```
+
+/// Force a conversion into a 2-element array.
+#[inline]
+pub fn array2<T, A: Into<[T; 2]>>(value: A) -> [T; 2] {
+    value.into()
+}
+
+/// Force a conversion into a 3-element array.
+#[inline]
+pub fn array3<T, A: Into<[T; 3]>>(value: A) -> [T; 3] {
+    value.into()
+}
+
+/// Force a conversion into a 4-element array.
+#[inline]
+pub fn array4<T, A: Into<[T; 4]>>(value: A) -> [T; 4] {
+    value.into()
+}
+
+/// Force a conversion into a 2x2-element array.
+#[inline]
+pub fn array2x2<T, A: Into<[[T; 2]; 2]>>(value: A) -> [[T; 2]; 2] {
+    value.into()
+}
+
+/// Force a conversion into a 3x3-element array.
+#[inline]
+pub fn array3x3<T, A: Into<[[T; 3]; 3]>>(value: A) -> [[T; 3]; 3] {
+    value.into()
+}
+
+/// Force a conversion into a 4x4-element array.
+#[inline]
+pub fn array4x4<T, A: Into<[[T; 4]; 4]>>(value: A) -> [[T; 4]; 4] {
+    value.into()
+}

src/lib.rs

@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ pub use rust_num::{One, Zero, one, zero};
 
 // Modules
 
+pub mod conv;
 pub mod prelude;
 
 mod macros;