C Interfaces and Implementations: Techniques for Creating Reusable Software
Select Format
Select Condition 
Book Overview
Every programmer and software project manager must master the art of 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. - Convenient access to all source code in the book via the World Wide Web at http: //www.cs.princeton.edu/software/cii/
Format:Paperback
Language:English
ISBN:0201498413
ISBN13:9780201498417
Release Date:August 1996
Publisher:Addison-Wesley Professional
Length:544 Pages
Weight:1.95 lbs.
Dimensions:1.1" x 7.4" x 9.3"
Related Subjects
C & C++ Windows Programming Computer Science Computers Computers & Technology Design Tools & Techniques Development Education & Reference Languages & Tools Mathematics Programming Programming Languages Science & Math Software Software Design, Testing & Engineering Software Engineering Software ReuseCustomer Reviews
5 ratings
helped me avoid using C++
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 15 years ago
I had been working with Java for 10 years until I realized I was bored out of my mind. I decided to build my next big thing in C. I wasn't sure anymore how to sanely build a large application without the code organizing properties and safety of an OO lang and I refuse to use C++ so I was stuck until reading this.
Excellent, useful, timeless
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 15 years ago
I second the many positive reviews about this book. If you architect and/or make software for a living, this book will give you a life long of useful ideas and provide with real running and working generic solutions. Foremost I was personally stunned by the implementation of the exception handler emulator, which I adopted ever since. Now I can look back at it's respectable 12 years of service with exemplary low "bug rate" and hundreds of millions in revenue gathered from products using this style of coding. One issue was not mentioned by the most of other reviewers: This book is one of the now rare examples of "Literate Programming," a term coined by Donald Knuth, who implemented the "web system" with two programs Tangle and Weave. From the same source the one program generates code for a compiler, the other generates a book text for a text processing system. This way code and the literature about it are in perfect sync. Most importantly, the code showed in the book is a real tested and running implementation, not a mere pseudo code used by others so often, which may or may not be correct. See section 1.1 for a description of the system and typographical convention used by Prof. Hanson in his book. For me this book is a classic. Timeless, even now 12 years since its date of release it is highly recommended for every practitioner at any level.
By far the most advanced C book I read
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 22 years ago
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.
From novice to a professional
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 23 years ago
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
Probably the best advanced C book in existance...
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 25 years ago
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 pointin the book.
Copyright © 2025 Thriftbooks.com
Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information | Cookie Policy | Cookie Preferences | Accessibility Statement
ThriftBooks ® and the ThriftBooks ® logo are registered trademarks of Thrift Books Global, LLC
ThriftBooks ® and the ThriftBooks ® logo are registered trademarks of Thrift Books Global, LLC
