C Interfaces and Implementations: Techniques for Creating Reusable Software (Paperback)

~ David R. Hanson (Author) "A big program is made up of many small modules..." (more)
Key Phrases: unchecked runtime error, unsigned char flags, exported macros, Implement Thread, Except-Frame Except-frame (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

C Interfaces and Implementations describes how to use interface-based design in the C programming language, and it illustrates this approach by describing 24 interfaces and their implementations in detail. The source code in the book is interleaved with its explanation in an order that best suits understanding the code.

From the Back Cover

creating reusable software modules; they are the building blocks of large, reliable applications. Unlike some modern object-oriented languages, C provides little linguistic support or motivation for creating reusable application programming interfaces (APIs). While most C programmers use APIs and the libraries that implement them in almost every application they write, relatively few programmers create and disseminate new, widely applicable APIs. C Interfaces and Implementations shows how to create reusable APIs using interface-based design, a language-independent methodology that separates interfaces from their implementations. This methodology is explained by example. The author describes in detail 24 interfaces and their implementations, providing the reader with a thorough understanding of this design approach.

Features of C Interfaces and Implementations:

• Concise interface descriptions that comprise a reference manual for programmers interested in using the interfaces.

• A guided tour of the code that implements each chapter's interface tp help those modifying or extending an interface or designing related interfaces.

• In-depth focus on "algorithm engineering:" how to package data structures and related algorithms into reusable modules.

• Source code for 24 APIs and 8 sample applications is examined, with each presented as a "literate program" in which a thorough explanation is interleaved with the source code.

• Rarely documented C programming tricks-of-the-trade.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 544 pages
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional (August 30, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201498413
• ISBN-13: 978-0201498417
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #386,897 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Probably the best advanced C book in existance..., August 4, 1999

By	Thomas Ptacek (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Clearly written and well organized, this book presents more than 20 _highly_ useful library interfaces for containers, string management, mathematics, and memory management. There isn't a line of code in the whole book that you couldn't take and use, verbatim, in a project today --- after reading this book, you'll probably never have a compelling reason to write a string library or a hash table interface again.

More importantly, though, each example library illustrates ways to effectively design consistant and useable library interfaces, from generic ADTs to system service wrappers. After reading this book, you'll not only have an arsenal of useful code to leverage, but also a good understanding of how to design clean, modular, reuseable components for your application.

Hanson's C code is extremely clear and concise. Even if you've been programming professionally for a long time, you are likely to pick up a useful technique or two just by reading the source code in the book. If you're not very experienced, you will learn about C programming idioms that will be valuable to you in future work.

I really like how this book, and Hanson's other book ("A Retargetable C Compiler: Design and Implementation") are put together. Hanson employs Literate Programming techniques to weave the code he's discussing together with his discussion. This makes it very simple to track what portions of the code are being talked about at any point

in the book.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars From novice to a professional, October 5, 2001

By A Customer

If you want to become a professional programmer overnight.read and thoroughly understand this book. If one could master the techniques described in this book..he may never have to worry about failing software developer's job interviews. This last statement is based on my personal experience.
The chapters provide source code which is clear, efficient, and outrightly professional, the description is concise, to the point and clear enough.Most of the code in the book can be used without any modification. I don't know of a book in the market that could teach how to design and implement a user-level threads library from the scratch WITHOUT any help from the Operating System. Simply wonderful

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars By far the most advanced C book I read, May 13, 2002

By	Mike Meng (Beijing, China) - See all my reviews

I have been a C and C++ programmer for 5 years, and is regarded as an professional C and C++ programmer. After scanning this book, I think I should re-estimate my C skill.

In one word, this book is the most advanced C book I've read, it presents lots of wonderful techniques and ideas, and more, all the things are very useful. For examples:

* Use standard C's setjmp/longjmp to implement WIn32 SEH-like exception handling machanism.

* Very detailed and smart memory management solution.

* All the data structures and utilities in well-defined, reusable format: atoms, tables, sets, vectors(dynamic arrays), rings, strings, arithmetric with any precisions, thread library... everything you need to build a whole new system.

I'd say that once you master each of those things (this means read and re-read until understanding occur, as Fransis Glassborow said ), you will be an outstanding programmer in any circumstance, and can be full of confidence to accept any programming challenge.

The only thing I complain is about the source code. The source code presenting style in this book is relative strange and difficult to catch. I tried to type the code into my PC, and found it's a unpleasent work. Fortunately, the all source can be download from the book's web page, so, I still gave 5 stars.