DOCSLIB.ORG

Codewarrior® C Compilers Reference

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Codewarrior® C Compilers Reference CodeWarrior® C Compilers Reference Because of last-minute changes to CodeWarrior, some of the information in this manual may be inaccurate. Please read the Release Notes on the CodeWarrior CD for the latest up-to-date information. Revised: 99/12/06 map Metrowerks CodeWarrior copyright ©1993–2000 by Metrowerks, Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Documentation stored on the compact disk(s) may be printed by licensee for personal use. Except for the foregoing, no part of this documentation may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from Metrowerks, Inc. Metrowerks, the Metrowerks logo, CodeWarrior, PowerPlant, and Metrowerks University are registered trademarks of Metrowerks Inc. CodeWarrior Constructor, Geekware, PowerParts, and Discover Programming are trademarks of Metrowerks Inc. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. ALL SOFTWARE AND DOCUMENTATION ON THE COMPACT DISK(S) ARE SUBJECT TO THE LICENSE AGREEMENT IN THE CD BOOKLET. How to Contact Metrowerks: U.S.A. and international Metrowerks Corporation 9801 Metric, Suite #100 Austin, TX 78758 U.S.A. Canada Metrowerks Inc. 1500 du College, Suite 300 Ville St-Laurent, QC Canada H4L 5G6 Ordering Voice: (800) 377–5416 Fax: (512) 873–4901 World Wide Web http://www.metrowerks.com Registration information [email protected] Desktop/Games Technical support [email protected] Embedded Technical support [email protected] Sales, marketing, & licensing [email protected] International Ordering Voice: +1 512 873 4724 Fax: +1 512 873 4901 Intl. Sales, marketing, & licensing [email protected] Table of Contents 1 Introduction 11 What’s in this Reference? . 11 Read the Release Notes! . 12 What’s New . 12 CodeWarrior Year 2000 Compliance . 13 Conventions Used in This Reference . 13 2 Setting C/C++ Compiler Options 15 Setting C Compiler Options Overview. 15 C/C++ Language Panel . 15 C/C++ Warnings Panel . 18 Treat All Warnings as Errors . 20 Illegal Pragmas . 20 Empty Declarations. 20 Possible Errors . 21 Unused Variables. 22 Unused Arguments. 23 Extra Commas . 24 Extended Error Checking . 24 Hidden Virtual Functions . 25 Implicit Arithmetic Conversions . 26 Non-Inlined Functions . 26 Inconsistent Use of ‘class’ and ‘struct’ Keywords . 26 3 C Compiler 29 C Compiler Overview . 29 Identifiers . 30 Include Files . 30 Prefix Files . 32 Sizeof() Operator . 32 Volatile Variables. 32 Enumerated Types . 33 Extensions to ANSI/ISO C . 35 ANSI Strict . 36 Using the wchar_t Type . 37 C Compilers Reference CCR–3 C++ Style Comments . 37 Unnamed Arguments in Function Definitions . 38 A # not Followed by Argument in a Macro . 38 Using an Identifier After #endif . 38 Using Typecasted Pointers as lvalues . 39 Declaring Variables By Address . 40 ANSI Keywords Only. 40 Expand Trigraphs . 41 Character Constants as Integer Values. 42 Inlining . 42 Multibyte Strings and Comments. 44 Pool Strings . 44 Reusing Strings . 45 Require Function Prototypes . 46 Map Newlines to CR . 48 Relaxed Pointer Type Rules . 49 Use Unsigned Chars . 50 Using 64-bit Integers . 50 Converting Pointers to Types of the Same Size . 51 Getting Alignment and Type Information at Compile-Time . 51 Arrays of Zero Length in Structures. 51 Intrinsic Functions for Bit Rotation . 52 The “D” Constant Suffix. 52 The short double Data Type . 53 GNU C Extensions . 53 4 C++ Compiler 55 C++ Compiler Overview . 55 CodeWarrior Implementation of C++ . 56 Implicit Return Statement for main() . 57 Keyword Ordering . 57 Additional Keywords . 58 Conversions in the Conditional Operator . 58 Default Arguments in Member Functions . 58 Local Class Declarations with Inline Functions . 59 Copying and Constructing Class Objects . 59 Checking for Resources To Initialize Static Data . 60 CCR–4 C Compilers Reference Calling an Inherited Member Function . 61 Unsupported Extensions. 63 Controlling the C++ Compiler . 63 Using the C++ Compiler Always . 64 Controlling ARM Conformance . 64 Controlling Exception Handling . 65 Controlling RTTI . 66 Using the bool Type . 66 Controlling C++ Extensions . 67 Working With C++ Exceptions . 68 Working With RTTI . 68 Using the dynamic_cast Operator . 68 Using the typeid Operator . 70 Working With Templates. 71 Declaring and Defining Templates . 72 Instantiating a Template. 75 5 C++ and Embedded Systems 79 C++ and Embedded Systems Overview . 79 Activating EC++ . 79 Differences Between ANSI/ISO C++ and EC++ . 80 Templates . 80 Libraries . 80 File Operations. 80 Localization . 80 Exception Handling . 81 Other Language Features . 81 Meeting EC++ Specifications With CodeWarrior . 81 Language Related Issues . 81 Library Related Issues . 82 Strategies for Smaller Code Size in C++ . 82 Size Optimizations . 83 Inlining . 83 Virtual Functions. 84 Runtime Type Identification . 84 Exception Handling . 84 Operator New . 85 C Compilers Reference CCR–5 Multiple Inheritance . 85 Virtual Inheritance . 85 Stream-Based Classes . 86 Alternative Class Libraries. 86 6 Pragmas and Symbols 87 Pragmas and Symbols Overview . 87 Pragmas . 88 Pragma Syntax. 88 Pragma Scope . 88 a6frames . 90 align . 90 align_array_members . 92 altivec_codegen . 93 altivec_model . 93 altivec_vrsave . 94 always_inline . 94 ANSI_strict . 94 arg_dep_lookup . 95 ARM_conform . 96 auto_inline . 97 bool . 97 check_header_flags . 98 code_seg . 99 code68020 . 99 code68881 . 100 cplusplus . 101 cpp_extensions. 101 d0_pointers . 102 data_seg . 103 def_inherited . 104 defer_codegen . 104 define_section . 105 direct_destruction . 109 direct_to_som . 109 disable_registers . 110 dollar_identifiers . 111 CCR–6 C Compilers Reference dont_inline . 111 dont_reuse_strings . 112 ecplusplus. 113 EIPC_EIPSW . 113 enumsalwaysint . 114 exceptions. 115 export . 115 extended_errorcheck . 117 far_code, near_code, smart_code . 119 far_data . 119 far_strings. 120 far_vtables . 120 faster_pch_gen. 121 float_constants . 121 force_active . 122 fourbyteints . 122 fp_contract . 123 fp_pilot_traps . 124 fullpath_prepdump. 124 function. 124 gcc_extensions . 125.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Modern Programming Languages CS508 Virtual University of Pakistan
    Modern Programming Languages (CS508) VU Modern Programming Languages CS508 Virtual University of Pakistan Leaders in Education Technology 1 © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan Modern Programming Languages (CS508) VU TABLE of CONTENTS Course Objectives...........................................................................................................................4 Introduction and Historical Background (Lecture 1-8)..............................................................5 Language Evaluation Criterion.....................................................................................................6 Language Evaluation Criterion...................................................................................................15 An Introduction to SNOBOL (Lecture 9-12).............................................................................32 Ada Programming Language: An Introduction (Lecture 13-17).............................................45 LISP Programming Language: An Introduction (Lecture 18-21)...........................................63 PROLOG - Programming in Logic (Lecture 22-26) .................................................................77 Java Programming Language (Lecture 27-30)..........................................................................92 C# Programming Language (Lecture 31-34) ...........................................................................111 PHP – Personal Home Page PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor (Lecture 35-37)........................129 Modern Programming Languages-JavaScript
    [Show full text]
  • About ILE C/C++ Compiler Reference
    IBM i 7.3 Programming IBM Rational Development Studio for i ILE C/C++ Compiler Reference IBM SC09-4816-07 Note Before using this information and the product it supports, read the information in “Notices” on page 121. This edition applies to IBM® Rational® Development Studio for i (product number 5770-WDS) and to all subsequent releases and modifications until otherwise indicated in new editions. This version does not run on all reduced instruction set computer (RISC) models nor does it run on CISC models. This document may contain references to Licensed Internal Code. Licensed Internal Code is Machine Code and is licensed to you under the terms of the IBM License Agreement for Machine Code. © Copyright International Business Machines Corporation 1993, 2015. US Government Users Restricted Rights – Use, duplication or disclosure restricted by GSA ADP Schedule Contract with IBM Corp. Contents ILE C/C++ Compiler Reference............................................................................... 1 What is new for IBM i 7.3.............................................................................................................................3 PDF file for ILE C/C++ Compiler Reference.................................................................................................5 About ILE C/C++ Compiler Reference......................................................................................................... 7 Prerequisite and Related Information..................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Technical Study Desktop Internationalization
    Technical Study Desktop Internationalization NIC CH A E L T S T U D Y [This page intentionally left blank] X/Open Technical Study Desktop Internationalisation X/Open Company Ltd. December 1995, X/Open Company Limited All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owners. X/Open Technical Study Desktop Internationalisation X/Open Document Number: E501 Published by X/Open Company Ltd., U.K. Any comments relating to the material contained in this document may be submitted to X/Open at: X/Open Company Limited Apex Plaza Forbury Road Reading Berkshire, RG1 1AX United Kingdom or by Electronic Mail to: [email protected] ii X/Open Technical Study (1995) Contents Chapter 1 Internationalisation.............................................................................. 1 1.1 Introduction ................................................................................................. 1 1.2 Character Sets and Encodings.................................................................. 2 1.3 The C Programming Language................................................................ 5 1.4 Internationalisation Support in POSIX .................................................. 6 1.5 Internationalisation Support in the X/Open CAE............................... 7 1.5.1 XPG4 Facilities.........................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Unix Standardization and Implementation
    Contents 1. Preface/Introduction 2. Standardization and Implementation 3. File I/O 4. Standard I/O Library 5. Files and Directories 6. System Data Files and Information 7. Environment of a Unix Process 8. Process Control 9. Signals 10.Inter-process Communication * All rights reserved, Tei-Wei Kuo, National Taiwan University, 2003. Standardization and Implementation Why Standardization? Proliferation of UNIX versions What should be done? The specifications of limits that each implementation must define! * All rights reserved, Tei-Wei Kuo, National Taiwan University, 2003. 1 UNIX Standardization ANSI C American National Standards Institute ISO/IEC 9899:1990 International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Syntax/Semantics of C, a standard library Purpose: Provide portability of conforming C programs to a wide variety of OS’s. 15 areas: Fig 2.1 – Page 27 * All rights reserved, Tei-Wei Kuo, National Taiwan University, 2003. UNIX Standardization ANSIC C <assert.h> - verify program assertion <ctype.h> - char types <errno.h> - error codes <float.h> - float point constants <limits.h> - implementation constants <locale.h> - locale catalogs <math.h> - mathematical constants <setjmp.h> - nonlocal goto <signal.h> - signals <stdarg.h> - variable argument lists <stddef.h> - standard definitions <stdio.h> - standard library <stdlib.h> - utilities functions <string.h> - string operations <time.h> - time and date * All rights reserved, Tei-Wei Kuo, National Taiwan University, 2003. 2 UNIX Standardization POSIX.1 (Portable Operating System Interface) developed by IEEE Not restricted for Unix-like systems and no distinction for system calls and library functions Originally IEEE Standard 1003.1-1988 1003.2: shells and utilities, 1003.7: system administrator, > 15 other communities Published as IEEE std 1003.1-1990, ISO/IEC9945-1:1990 New: the inclusion of symbolic links No superuser notion * All rights reserved, Tei-Wei Kuo, National Taiwan University, 2003.
    [Show full text]
  • Computer Architectures
    Computer Architectures Motorola 68000, 683xx a ColdFire – CISC CPU Principles Demonstrated Czech Technical University in Prague, Faculty of Electrical Engineering AE0B36APO Computer Architectures Ver.1.10 1 Original Desktop/Workstation 680X0 Feature 68000 'EC000 68010 68020 68030 68040 68060 Data bus 16 8/16 16 8/16/32 8/16/32 32 32 Addr bus 23 23 23 32 32 32 32 Misaligned Addr - - - Yes Yes Yes Yes Virtual memory - - Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Instruct Cache - - 3 256 256 4096 8192 Data Cache - - - - 256 4096 8192 Memory manager 68451 or 68851 68851 Yes Yes Yes ATC entries - - - - 22 64/64 64/64 FPU interface - - - 68881 or 68882 Internal FPU built-in FPU - - - - - Yes Yes Burst Memory - - - - Yes Yes Yes Bus Cycle type asynchronous both synchronous Data Bus Sizing - - - Yes Yes use 68150 Power (watts) 1.2 0.13-0.26 0.13 1.75 2.6 4-6 3.9-4.9 at frequency of 8.0 8-16 8 16-25 16-50 25-40 50-66 MIPS/kDhryst. 1.2/2.1 2.5/4.3 6.5/11 14/23 35/60 100/300 Transistors 68k 84k 190k 273k 1,170k 2,500k Introduction 1979 1982 1984 1987 1991 1994 AE0B36APO Computer Architectures 2 M68xxx/CPU32/ColdFire – Basic Registers Set 31 16 15 8 7 0 User programming D0 D1 model registers D2 D3 DATA REGISTERS D4 D5 D6 D7 16 15 0 A0 A1 A2 A3 ADDRESS REGISTERS A4 A5 A6 16 15 0 A7 (USP) USER STACK POINTER 0 PC PROGRAM COUNTER 15 8 7 0 0 CCR CONDITION CODE REGISTER 31 16 15 0 A7# (SSP) SUPERVISOR STACK Supervisor/system POINTER 15 8 7 0 programing model (CCR) SR STATUS REGISTER 31 0 basic registers VBR VECTOR BASE REGISTER 31 3 2 0 SFC ALTERNATE FUNCTION DFC CODE REGISTERS AE0B36APO Computer Architectures 3 Status Register – Conditional Code Part USER BYTE SYSTEM BYTE (CONDITION CODE REGISTER) 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 T1 T0 S 0 0 I2 I1 I0 0 0 0 X N Z V C TRACE INTERRUPT EXTEND ENABLE PRIORITY MASK NEGATIVE SUPERVISOR/USER ZERO STATE OVERFLOW CARRY ● N – negative ..
    [Show full text]
  • RTEMS CPU Supplement Documentation Release 4.11.3 ©Copyright 2016, RTEMS Project (Built 15Th February 2018)
    RTEMS CPU Supplement Documentation Release 4.11.3 ©Copyright 2016, RTEMS Project (built 15th February 2018) CONTENTS I RTEMS CPU Architecture Supplement1 1 Preface 5 2 Port Specific Information7 2.1 CPU Model Dependent Features...........................8 2.1.1 CPU Model Name...............................8 2.1.2 Floating Point Unit..............................8 2.2 Multilibs........................................9 2.3 Calling Conventions.................................. 10 2.3.1 Calling Mechanism.............................. 10 2.3.2 Register Usage................................. 10 2.3.3 Parameter Passing............................... 10 2.3.4 User-Provided Routines............................ 10 2.4 Memory Model..................................... 11 2.4.1 Flat Memory Model.............................. 11 2.5 Interrupt Processing.................................. 12 2.5.1 Vectoring of an Interrupt Handler...................... 12 2.5.2 Interrupt Levels................................ 12 2.5.3 Disabling of Interrupts by RTEMS...................... 12 2.6 Default Fatal Error Processing............................. 14 2.7 Symmetric Multiprocessing.............................. 15 2.8 Thread-Local Storage................................. 16 2.9 CPU counter...................................... 17 2.10 Interrupt Profiling................................... 18 2.11 Board Support Packages................................ 19 2.11.1 System Reset................................. 19 3 ARM Specific Information 21 3.1 CPU Model Dependent Features..........................
    [Show full text]
  • ESC 151 –C Programming (ANSI C) Note on Medical Reasons For
    ESC 151 –C Programming (ANSI C) Class: Section 1: Remote, quizzes Monday at 9:30 Section 2: TTH 10:00 AM-11:15 AM Suggested External Information (in place of a book): http://www.cprogramming.com/tutorial/c- tutorial.html Instructor: Robert Fiske Office: FH 315, Office Hours/Availability: Officially: TTH 6:00-8:00 in general I’m available at any time except TTH: 9:00-12:30. Send me an email and if need be we can meet via zoom, if I don’t reply in a timely fashion send another email and/or post on the class discussion board. Note on medical reasons for extensions/other requirements Educational access is the provision of classroom accommodations, auxiliary aids and services to ensure equal educational opportunities for all students regardless of their disability. Any student who feels he or she may need an accommodation based on the impact of a disability should contact the Office of Disability Services at (216)687-2015. The Office is located in MC 147. Accommodations need to be requested in advance and will not be granted retroactively. Any medical/family issues you have need to be brought to my attention before you take any quiz/exam, once the exam is in your hands no makeup will be oered. Once you begin to take an exam/quiz you may not leave the room until you turn in the quiz/exam. Course Objectives: This course is designed to: 1. Introduce the C programming language. 2. Introduce the concepts of computer programming. 3. Teach students to think about how to approach programming challenges.
    [Show full text]
  • Interfacing Modula-2 to C (Draft)
    Interfacing Modula-2 to C (Draft) http://www.zi.biologie.uni-muenchen.de/~enger/SC22WG13/im2c.html Warning This document is not an ISO International Standard. It is distributed for review and comment. It is subject to change without notice and may not be referred to as an International Standard ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG13 XXXXX DATE: 1998-11-30 Replaces Draft from June 1998 ISO/IEC JTC1 SC22/WG13 (Modula-2) DOC TYPE: Draft (Technical Report) TITLE: Interfacing Modula-2 to C SOURCE: PROJECT: JTC1.22.15436 STATUS: ACTION ID: DUE DATE: DISTRIBUTION: MEDIUM: server NO. OF PAGES: 34 Convenor of ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG13 Dr. Martin Schoenhacker Telephone: +43 1 58801 4079; Facsimile: +43 1 5042583; e-mail: [email protected] Project Editor Eberhard Enger e-mail: [email protected] Contents Foreword Introduction 1 Scope 1 von 34 30.11.98 10:51 Interfacing Modula-2 to C (Draft) http://www.zi.biologie.uni-muenchen.de/~enger/SC22WG13/im2c.html 2 Normative references 3 Definitions 4 General 4.1 Purpose and justification 4.2 Specific aims 4.3 Exclusions 4.4 Cooperation and liaison 4.5 Preparatory work 5 Rationale 6 Requirements 6.1 Compilation system 6.2 Required modules 7 Guidelines for interfacing C 7.1 Introduction to the guidelines 7.2 Lexis 7.2.1 Notation for identifiers 7.2.2 Notation of literals 7.2.3 Collisions of names 7.3 Mapping of datatypes 7.3.1 Introduction 7.3.2 Representation 7.3.3 Basic integer types 7.3.4 Enumerations 7.3.5 Floating-point types 7.3.6 Pointer types 7.3.7 Structure types 7.3.8 Union types 7.3.9
    [Show full text]
  • Reference Guide for X86-64 Cpus
    REFERENCE GUIDE FOR X86-64 CPUS Version 2019 TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface............................................................................................................. xi Audience Description.......................................................................................... xi Compatibility and Conformance to Standards............................................................ xi Organization....................................................................................................xii Hardware and Software Constraints...................................................................... xiii Conventions....................................................................................................xiii Terms............................................................................................................xiv Related Publications.......................................................................................... xv Chapter 1. Fortran, C, and C++ Data Types................................................................ 1 1.1. Fortran Data Types....................................................................................... 1 1.1.1. Fortran Scalars.......................................................................................1 1.1.2. FORTRAN real(2).....................................................................................3 1.1.3. FORTRAN 77 Aggregate Data Type Extensions.................................................. 3 1.1.4. Fortran 90 Aggregate Data Types (Derived
    [Show full text]
  • INTRODUCTION to ANSI C Outline
    1/17/14 INTRODUCTION TO ANSI C Dr. Chokchai (Box) Leangsuksun Louisiana Tech University Original slides were created by Dr. Tom Chao Zhou, https://www.cse.cuhk.edu.hk 1 Outline • History • Introduction to C – Basics – If Statement – Loops – Functions – Switch case – Pointers – Structures – File I/O Louisiana Tech University 2 1 1/17/14 Introduction • The C programming language was designed by Dennis Ritchie at Bell Laboratories in the early 1970s • Influenced by – ALGOL 60 (1960), – CPL (Cambridge, 1963), – BCPL (Martin Richard, 1967), – B (Ken Thompson, 1970) • Traditionally used for systems programming, though this may be changing in favor of C++ • Traditional C: – The C Programming Language, by Brian Kernighan and Dennis Ritchie, 2nd Edition, Prentice Hall – Referred to as K&R Original by Fred Kuhns) Louisiana Tech University 3 Standard C • Standardized in 1989 by ANSI (American National Standards Institute) known as ANSI C • International standard (ISO) in 1990 which was adopted by ANSI and is known as C89 • As part of the normal evolution process the standard was updated in 1995 (C95) and 1999 (C99) • C++ and C – C++ extends C to include support for Object Oriented Programming and other features that facilitate large software development projects – C is not strictly a subset of C++, but it is possible to write “Clean C” that conforms to both the C++ and C standards. Original by Fred Kuhns) Original by Fred Kuhns) Louisiana Tech University 4 2 1/17/14 Elements of a C Program • A C development environment: – Application Source: application source and header files – System libraries and headers: a set of standard libraries and their header files.
    [Show full text]
  • 1. with Examples of Different Programming Languages Show How Programming Languages Are Organized Along the Given Rubrics: I
    AGBOOLA ABIOLA CSC302 17/SCI01/007 COMPUTER SCIENCE ASSIGNMENT ​ 1. With examples of different programming languages show how programming languages are organized along the given rubrics: i. Unstructured, structured, modular, object oriented, aspect oriented, activity oriented and event oriented programming requirement. ii. Based on domain requirements. iii. Based on requirements i and ii above. 2. Give brief preview of the evolution of programming languages in a chronological order. 3. Vividly distinguish between modular programming paradigm and object oriented programming paradigm. Answer 1i). UNSTRUCTURED LANGUAGE DEVELOPER DATE Assembly Language 1949 FORTRAN John Backus 1957 COBOL CODASYL, ANSI, ISO 1959 JOSS Cliff Shaw, RAND 1963 BASIC John G. Kemeny, Thomas E. Kurtz 1964 TELCOMP BBN 1965 MUMPS Neil Pappalardo 1966 FOCAL Richard Merrill, DEC 1968 STRUCTURED LANGUAGE DEVELOPER DATE ALGOL 58 Friedrich L. Bauer, and co. 1958 ALGOL 60 Backus, Bauer and co. 1960 ABC CWI 1980 Ada United States Department of Defence 1980 Accent R NIS 1980 Action! Optimized Systems Software 1983 Alef Phil Winterbottom 1992 DASL Sun Micro-systems Laboratories 1999-2003 MODULAR LANGUAGE DEVELOPER DATE ALGOL W Niklaus Wirth, Tony Hoare 1966 APL Larry Breed, Dick Lathwell and co. 1966 ALGOL 68 A. Van Wijngaarden and co. 1968 AMOS BASIC FranÇois Lionet anConstantin Stiropoulos 1990 Alice ML Saarland University 2000 Agda Ulf Norell;Catarina coquand(1.0) 2007 Arc Paul Graham, Robert Morris and co. 2008 Bosque Mark Marron 2019 OBJECT-ORIENTED LANGUAGE DEVELOPER DATE C* Thinking Machine 1987 Actor Charles Duff 1988 Aldor Thomas J. Watson Research Center 1990 Amiga E Wouter van Oortmerssen 1993 Action Script Macromedia 1998 BeanShell JCP 1999 AngelScript Andreas Jönsson 2003 Boo Rodrigo B.
    [Show full text]
  • Toward a New Systems Programming Environment
    Toward a new systems programming environment Russ Cox [email protected] 1. Introduction I am growing increasingly dissatisfied with the systems programming environments available to me. This is a rant. In it, I try to articulate what I find wrong with current systems programming environments, in an attempt to decide what the systems programming environment I want to use would look like. Some sections are more well thought out (and thus longer) than others. To start, I must define systems programming environment. First, systems programming is building programs that provide basic day-to-day system functionality. The line between systems programs and other programs is necessarily fuzzy, but a few examples should suffice. Examples of systems programs include operating system kernels, file systems, window systems, compilers, and editors. Examples of non-systems programs include mathematical simulations, logic pro- grams, theorem provers, AI, and other specialized applications. One approximate characterization might be that systems programs are not difficult algorithmically while non-systems programs often are. That is, systems programs may be well characterized by the fact that their value often lies in their integration and cooperation with other programs rather than in their standalone behav- ior. A systems programming environment comprises the various tools used for systems pro- gramming. These include programming languages, compilers, editing systems, debuggers, and the operating system itself. That is, C alone is not a systems programming environment at all. C, Unix, Emacs, gcc, and gdb together are a systems programming environment. This distinction is just as important for running programs as for writing them. For example, consider a C program that reads from /dev/random.
    [Show full text]