Low-level programming langauge originally part of Unix.

C is the lingua franca of the software world as so much is written in it. Any serious programmer should have significant familiarity with C.

C is worth learning as an aid to thinking about problems at the hardware and operating system levels - though it is still an abstract machine on top of the real hardware.

Style

ANSI C89 compliant code is preferred for portability. Here are a few standard conventions:

General

• use /* */ comment pairs, never //
• no tabs, expand to spaces. 2 spaces per indentation level
• no whitespace after the keywords if, for, and while.
• no braces around single-line blocks (e.g., if, for, and while bodies)
• integer valued functions return -1 on error, 0 or positive on success
• enum and #defineed constants should be UPPERCASE
• struct tags are Underscore_Capitalized, with matching typedefs
• function and variable names are compact like krninit when possible, underscore_lowercased when clarity demands
• automatic variables (local variables inside a function) are never initialized at declaration
• don't write !strcmp (or !memcmp, etc.); always explicitly compare the result fo string or memory comparison with zero
• include files should not include other files (prevents circular dependencies and keeps compilation fast)

Comments

• Code should be readable and require few comments. Functions should have a line or two comment above explaining their purpose (even if redundant, as the purpose may not always be clear to others).
• Every field of a struct should have a corresponding comment
• Low-level code should be verbosely commented and when possible include links to reference materials. This can prevent a lot of wasteful churn between code, reference materials, and search engines when reading.

• tinycc git repo
• plan9 style guide

Last update on 7E4C11, edited 2 times. 2/2thh