How to write a function ?

[iflash]

Hi,

I am new to C programming and just recently bought Deitel & Deitel's 'C: How To Program'. I just looked at the table of keywords that the C programming language has, and wondered how can there be so many c functions doing so advanced stuff with so little keywords? What is the trick behind it? Do they use lots of other tools or what? Anyway my question is: How can ppl write so many good functions which base on just the little table of keywords?

thnx in advance

[prog_tom]

void ADD(int ONE, int TWO);
void ADD(int ONE, int TWO){
             return (ONE+TWO);
}

[transcendental]

Originally posted by parksie
PS: There's no trick - if you have the source for your compiler's standard library (MSVC has it, and most others do as well) then you can read through that.

Where in MSVC? I know they include template code.

Ordinary operator code?

[HarryW]

There's source for some ATL stuff in C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\VC98\ATL\SRC .

By the looks of it, just about everything else is in C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\VC98\CRT\SRC .


prog_tom: Strictly speaking, if you're going to use the usual coding conventions, you should reserve all-capitalised identifiers for constants. When you see a capitalised variable in some commercial-quality C code, it is usually a constant.

Naming conventions may sound like a pain but they're worth using. They save a lot of head-scratching when you've got a big project with other developers and you are editing code that you didn't necessarily write yourself.

[prog_tom]

Thanks for the advice Harry. Conveying you my best holiday wishes.

[iflash]

what are some other ways to check out and read the source code of the standard library, as you may know, i am only starting to learn C, not C++

[CornedBee]

the c standard library is c, not c++.

trans: when installing vc++ you can choose to add the source of the CRT. It is then located in:
(visual studio main directory)\vc98\crt\src

Operators don't have source code. They are simply translated to asm code (e.g. + is translated to the add instruction - of course this is oversimplifying it)

iflash:
C may have few keyword, but it has a lot of operators:
+, -, =, ++, --, /, *, !, ", %, &, ^, ~, ., ->, ||, <, >, <=, >=, |, &&, ==, +=, -=, /=, %=, !=, ^=, *=, ~=, |=, &=

Some are only combinations of others, but some have several meanings.
Also, you don't need many keywords and operators. You could build a computer with less than 10 instructions (maybe a little more):
add, invert, bitshift and other bitwise operations, goto

This is basically all you need for a working computer!