How Can I Efficiently Convert Hex Strings to IEEE-754 Floating-Point Values in Go?

Converting Hex Strings to Float Values in IEEE-754

Problem:
Converting hex strings (e.g., "0xC40C5253") to floating-point values using IEEE-754 conversion has proven challenging with the strconv.ParseFloat function. Is there an alternative approach?

Answer:
To effectively convert hex strings to float values, consider the following steps:

1. Determine the Bit-Length: Specify the bit-length of the input hex string (e.g., 32-bit for float32).
2. Parse Hex String to UInt32: Utilize strconv.ParseUint() to parse the hex string into an unsigned 32-bit integer (uint32).
3. Convert to Float32: Utilize the unsafe package to reinterpret the uint32 as a float32 pointer.

Here's an example code snippet that demonstrates these steps:

import (
    "fmt"
    "strconv"
    "unsafe"
)

func main() {
    s := "C40C5253"
    n, err := strconv.ParseUint(s, 16, 32)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }
    n2 := uint32(n)
    f := *(*float32)(unsafe.Pointer(&n2))
    fmt.Println(f)
}

Note:
Alternatively, the math package provides a built-in math.Float32frombits() function for converting uint32 values to float32, which can be used instead of the unsafe package:

f := math.Float32frombits(n2)

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