The most useful user-made C-macros (in GCC, also C99)? [closed]

Question

What C macro is in your opinion is the most useful? I have found the following one, which I use to do vector arithmetic in C:

#define v3_op_v3(x, op, y, z) {z[0]=x[0] op y[0]; \                                z[1]=x[1] op y[1]; \                                z[2]=x[2] op y[2];} 

It works like that:

v3_op_v3(vectorA, +, vectorB, vectorC); v3_op_v3(vectorE, *, vectorF, vectorJ); ... 

Answer 1

#define IMPLIES(x, y) (!(x) || (y))  #define COMPARE(x, y) (((x) > (y)) - ((x) < (y))) #define SIGN(x) COMPARE(x, 0)  #define ARRAY_SIZE(a) (sizeof(a) / sizeof(*a))  #define SWAP(x, y, T) do { T tmp = (x); (x) = (y); (y) = tmp; } while(0) #define SORT2(a, b, T) do { if ((a) > (b)) SWAP((a), (b), T); } while (0)  #define SET(d, n, v) do{ size_t i_, n_; for (n_ = (n), i_ = 0; n_ > 0; --n_, ++i_) (d)[i_] = (v); } while(0) #define ZERO(d, n) SET(d, n, 0) 

And, of course, various MIN, MAX, ABS etc.

Note, BTW, that none of the above can be implemented by a function in C.

P.S. I would probably single out the above IMPLIES macro as one of the most useful ones. Its main purpose is to facilitate writing of more elegant and readable assertions, as in

void foo(int array[], int n) {   assert(IMPLIES(n > 0, array != NULL));   ... 

Answer 2

The key point with C macros is to use them properly. In my mind there are three categories (not considering using them just to give descriptive names to constants)

1. As a shorthand for piece of codes one doesn't want to repeat
2. Provide a general use function
3. Modify the structure of the C language (apparently)

In the first case, your macro will live just within your program (usually just a file) so you can use macros like the one you have posted that is not protected against double evaluation of parameters and uses {...}; (potentially dangerous!).

In the second case (and even more in the third) you need to be extremely careful that your macros behave correctly as if they were real C constructs.

The macro you posted from GCC (min and max) is an example of this, they use the global variables _a and _b to avoid the risk of double evaluation (like in max(x++,y++)) (well, they use GCC extensions but the concept is the same).

I like using macros where it helps to make things more clear but they are a sharp tool! Probably that's what gave them such a bad reputation, I think they are a very useful tool and C would have been much poorer if they were not present.

I see others have provided examples of point 2 (macros as functions), let me give an example of creating a new C construct: the Finite state machine. (I've already posted this on SO but I can't seem to be able to find it)

 #define FSM            for(;;)  #define STATE(x)       x##_s   #define NEXTSTATE(x)   goto x##_s 

that you use this way:

 FSM {     STATE(s1):       ... do stuff ...       NEXTSTATE(s2);      STATE(s2):       ... do stuff ...       if (k<0) NEXTSTATE(s2);        /* fallthrough as the switch() cases */      STATE(s3):       ... final stuff ...       break;  /* Exit from the FSM */  }  

You can add variation on this theme to get the flavour of FSM you need.

Someone may not like this example but I find it perfect to demonstrate how simple macros can make your code more legible and expressive.