Extreme C : Taking You to the Limit in Concurrency, OOP, and the Most Advanced Capabilities of C

**Push the limits of what C - and you - can do, with this high-intensity guide to the most advanced capabilities of C** ## Key Features * Make the most of C's low-level control, flexibility, and high performance * A comprehensive guide to C's most powerful and challenging features * A thought-provoking guide packed with hands-on exercises and examples There's a lot more to C than knowing the language syntax. The industry looks for developers with a rigorous, scientific understanding of the principles and practices. Extreme C will teach you to use C's advanced low-level power to write effective, efficient systems. This intensive, practical guide will help you become an expert C programmer. Building on your existing C knowledge, you will master preprocessor directives, macros, conditional compilation, pointers, and much more. You will gain new insight into algorithm design, functions, and structures. You will discover how C helps you squeeze maximum performance out of critical, resource-constrained applications. C still plays a critical role in 21st-century programming, remaining the core language for precision engineering, aviations, space research, and more. This book shows how C works with Unix, how to implement OO principles in C, and fully covers multi-processing. In Extreme C, Amini encourages you to think, question, apply, and experiment for yourself. The book is essential for anybody who wants to take their C to the next level. ## What you will learn * Build advanced C knowledge on strong foundations, rooted in first principles * Understand memory structures and compilation pipeline and how they work, and how to make most out of them * Apply object-oriented design principles to your procedural C code * Write low-level code that's close to the hardware and squeezes maximum performance out of a computer system * Master concurrency, multithreading, multi-processing, and integration with other languages * Unit Testing and debugging, build systems, and inter-process communication for C programming Extreme C is for C programmers who want to dig deep into the language and its capabilities. It will help you make the most of the low-level control C gives you. 1. Essential Features 2. From Source to Binary 3. Object Files 4. Process Memory Structure 5. Stack and Heap 6. OOP and Encapsulation 7. Composition and Aggregation 8. Inheritance and Polymorphism 9. Abstraction and OOP in C++ 10. Unix: History and Architecture 11. System Calls and Kernels 12. The Most Recent C 13. Concurrency 14. Synchronization 15. Thread Execution 16. Thread Synchronization 17. Process Execution 18. Process Synchronization 19. Single-Host IPC and Sockets 20. Socket Programming 21. Integration with Other Languages 22. Unit Testing and Debugging 23. Build Systems Cover......Page 1 Copyright......Page 3 packt Page......Page 4 Contributors......Page 5 Table of Contents......Page 8 Preface......Page 18 Chapter 01: Essential Features......Page 28 Preprocessor directives......Page 30 Macros......Page 31 Defining a macro......Page 32 Variadic macros......Page 39 Advantages and disadvantages of macros......Page 43 Conditional compilation......Page 46 Syntax......Page 49 Arithmetic on variable pointers......Page 51 Generic pointers......Page 55 Dangling pointers......Page 58 Anatomy of a function......Page 61 Importance in design......Page 62 Pass-by-value versus pass-by-reference......Page 63 Function pointers......Page 66 Structures......Page 68 Why user-defined types?......Page 69 Memory layout......Page 71 Nested structures......Page 76 Structure pointers......Page 77 Summary......Page 78 Chapter 02: From Source to Binary......Page 80 Compilation pipeline......Page 81 Header files versus source files......Page 83 Example source files......Page 86 Building the example......Page 88 Step 1 – Preprocessing......Page 90 Step 2 – Compilation......Page 92 Step 3 – Assembly......Page 96 Supporting new architectures......Page 99 Step details......Page 100 Preprocessor......Page 102 Compiler......Page 106 Abstract syntax tree......Page 107 Assembler......Page 109 Linker......Page 110 How does the linker work?......Page 111 Linker can be fooled!......Page 120 C++ name mangling......Page 125 Summary......Page 127 Chapter 03: Object Files......Page 128 Application binary interface (ABI)......Page 129 Object file formats......Page 131 Relocatable object files......Page 132 Executable Object Files......Page 137 Static libraries......Page 142 Dynamic libraries......Page 151 Manual loading of shared libraries......Page 156 Summary......Page 158 Chapter 04: Process Memory Structure......Page 160 Process memory layout......Page 161 Discovering memory structure......Page 162 Probing static memory layout......Page 163 BSS segment......Page 165 Data segment......Page 168 Text segment......Page 172 Probing dynamic memory layout......Page 174 Memory mappings......Page 175 Stack segment......Page 180 Heap segment......Page 181 Summary......Page 185 Chapter 05: Stack and Heap......Page 188 Stack......Page 189 Probing the Stack......Page 190 Points on using the Stack memory......Page 197 Heap......Page 202 Heap memory allocation and deallocation......Page 203 Heap memory principles......Page 213 Memory management in constrained environments......Page 217 Memory-constrained environments......Page 218 External data storage......Page 219 Caching......Page 220 Allocation and deallocation cost......Page 225 Summary......Page 226 Chapter 06: OOP and Encapsulation......Page 228 Object-oriented thinking......Page 230 Mental concepts......Page 231 Mind maps and object models......Page 233 Objects are not in code......Page 235 Object attributes......Page 236 Relations among objects......Page 237 Object-oriented operations......Page 238 Objects have behaviors......Page 241 C is not object-oriented, but why?......Page 242 Attribute encapsulation......Page 243 Behavior encapsulation......Page 246 Information hiding......Page 257 Summary......Page 264 Relations between classes......Page 266 Object versus class......Page 267 Composition......Page 269 Aggregation......Page 276 Summary......Page 283 Chapter 08: Inheritance and Polymorphism......Page 284 Inheritance......Page 285 The nature of inheritance......Page 286 The first approach for having inheritance in C......Page 288 The second approach to inheritance in C......Page 295 Comparison of two approaches......Page 301 Polymorphism......Page 302 What is polymorphism?......Page 303 Why do we need polymorphism?......Page 306 How to have polymorphic behavior in C......Page 307 Summary......Page 315 Abstraction......Page 316 Encapsulation......Page 320 Inheritance......Page 324 Polymorphism......Page 331 Abstract classes......Page 334 Summary......Page 335 Chapter 10: Unix – History and Architecture......Page 336 Multics OS and Unix......Page 337 BCPL and B......Page 339 The way to C......Page 340 Unix architecture......Page 341 Philosophy......Page 342 Unix onion......Page 344 Shell interface to user applications......Page 346 Kernel interface to shell ring......Page 351 Kernel......Page 358 Hardware......Page 362 Summary......Page 364 System calls......Page 366 System calls under the microscope......Page 367 Bypassing standard C – calling a system call directly......Page 368 Inside the syscall function......Page 371 Kernel development......Page 373 Writing a Hello World system call for Linux......Page 375 Building the kernel......Page 382 Unix kernels......Page 388 Monolithic kernels versus microkernels......Page 389 Linux......Page 390 Kernel modules......Page 391 Adding a kernel module to Linux......Page 392 Summary......Page 398 Chapter 12: The Most Recent C......Page 400 Finding a supported version of C standard......Page 401 Removal of the gets function......Page 403 Changes to fopen function......Page 404 Bounds-checking functions......Page 405 No-return functions......Page 406 Type generic macros......Page 407 Unicode......Page 408 Anonymous structures and anonymous unions......Page 415 Summary......Page 417 Chapter 13: Concurrency......Page 418 Introducing concurrency......Page 419 Parallelism......Page 420 Concurrency......Page 421 Task scheduler unit......Page 422 Processes and threads......Page 424 Happens-before constraint......Page 425 When to use concurrency......Page 427 Shared states......Page 434 Summary......Page 439 Concurrency issues......Page 440 Intrinsic concurrency issues......Page 442 Post-synchronization issues......Page 452 Synchronization techniques......Page 453 Busy-waits and spin locks......Page 454 Sleep/notify mechanism......Page 457 Semaphores and mutexes......Page 461 Multiple processor units......Page 466 Spin locks......Page 470 Condition variables......Page 472 Concurrency in POSIX......Page 473 Kernels supporting concurrency......Page 474 Multi-processing......Page 476 Multithreading......Page 479 Summary......Page 480 Chapter 15: Thread Execution......Page 482 Threads......Page 484 POSIX threads......Page 487 Spawning POSIX threads......Page 488 Example of race condition......Page 494 Example of data race......Page 503 Summary......Page 506 Chapter 16: Thread Synchronization......Page 508 POSIX mutexes......Page 509 POSIX condition variables......Page 512 POSIX barriers......Page 516 POSIX semaphores......Page 519 POSIX threads and memory......Page 527 Stack memory......Page 528 Heap memory......Page 533 Memory visibility......Page 538 Summary......Page 540 Process execution APIs......Page 542 Process creation......Page 545 Process execution......Page 550 Comparing process creation and process execution......Page 553 Process execution steps......Page 554 Sharing techniques......Page 555 POSIX shared memory......Page 557 Data race example using shared memory......Page 563 File system......Page 568 Multithreading......Page 570 Single-host multi-processing......Page 571 Distributed multi-processing......Page 572 Summary......Page 573 Chapter 18: Process Synchronization......Page 574 Single-host concurrency control......Page 575 Named POSIX semaphores......Page 576 The first example......Page 580 The second example......Page 584 Step 1 – Global declarations......Page 585 Step 2 – Cancellation flag's shared memory......Page 586 Step 3 – Named mutex's shared memory......Page 589 Step 4 – Setting the cancellation flag......Page 591 Step 5 – The main function......Page 592 Named condition variables......Page 595 Step 1 – Class of shared memory......Page 596 Step 2 – Class of shared 32-bit integer counter......Page 599 Step 3 – Class of shared mutex......Page 601 Step 4 – Class of shared condition variable......Page 604 Step 5 – The main logic......Page 608 Distributed concurrency control......Page 614 Summary......Page 616 Chapter 19: Single-Host IPC and Sockets......Page 618 IPC techniques......Page 619 Communication protocols......Page 621 Protocol characteristics......Page 623 Length of messages......Page 624 Sequentiality......Page 625 File descriptors......Page 626 POSIX signals......Page 627 POSIX pipes......Page 631 POSIX message queues......Page 633 Introduction to socket programming......Page 637 Physical layer......Page 638 Link layer......Page 639 Network layer......Page 640 Transport layer......Page 644 Application layer......Page 649 Internet protocol suite......Page 650 What is a socket?......Page 651 POSIX socket library......Page 652 Sockets have their own descriptors!......Page 657 Summary......Page 658 Chapter 20: Socket Programming......Page 660 Socket programming review......Page 661 Calculator project......Page 663 Source hierarchy......Page 664 Run the project......Page 668 Application protocol......Page 669 Serialization/deserialization library......Page 673 Server-side serializer/deserializer functions......Page 675 Client-side serializer/deserializer functions......Page 677 Calculator service......Page 678 UDS stream server......Page 680 UDS stream client......Page 688 UDS datagram server......Page 691 UDS datagram client......Page 696 TCP server......Page 698 TCP client......Page 699 UDP server......Page 701 The UDP client......Page 702 Summary......Page 703 Chapter 21: Integration with Other Languages......Page 704 Why integration is possible?......Page 705 Obtaining the necessary materials......Page 706 Stack library......Page 707 Name mangling in C++......Page 714 C++ code......Page 716 Writing the Java part......Page 722 Writing the native part......Page 727 Integration with Python......Page 735 Integration with Go......Page 739 Summary......Page 742 Chapter 22: Unit Testing and Debugging......Page 744 Software testing......Page 745 Unit testing......Page 747 Test doubles......Page 755 Component testing......Page 756 Testing libraries for C......Page 758 CMocka......Page 759 Google Test......Page 769 Debugging......Page 773 Bug categories......Page 775 Debuggers......Page 776 Memory checkers......Page 777 Thread debuggers......Page 779 Performance profilers......Page 780 Summary......Page 781 Chapter 23: Build Systems......Page 782 What is a build system?......Page 783 Make......Page 784 CMake – not a build system!......Page 792 Ninja......Page 798 Bazel......Page 800 Comparing build systems......Page 803 Summary......Page 804 Other Books You May Enjoy......Page 806 Index......Page 810 Push the limits of what C - and you - can do, with this high-intensity guide to the most advanced capabilities of C Key Features Make the most of C's low-level control, flexibility, and high performance A comprehensive guide to C's most powerful and challenging features A thought-provoking guide packed with hands-on exercises and examples Book Description There's a lot more to C than knowing the language syntax. The industry looks for developers with a rigorous, scientific understanding of the principles and practices. Extreme C will teach you to use C's advanced low-level power to write effective, efficient systems. This intensive, practical guide will help you become an expert C programmer. Building on your existing C knowledge, you will master preprocessor directives, macros, conditional compilation, pointers, and much more. You will gain new insight into algorithm design, functions, and structures. You will discover how C helps you squeeze maximum performance out of critical, resource-constrained applications. C still plays a critical role in 21st-century programming, remaining the core language for precision engineering, aviations, space research, and more. This book shows how C works with Unix, how to implement OO principles in C, and fully covers multi-processing. In Extreme C, Amini encourages you to think, question, apply, and experiment for yourself. The book is essential for anybody who wants to take their C to the next level. What you will learn Build advanced C knowledge on strong foundations, rooted in first principles Understand memory structures and compilation pipeline and how they work, and how to make most out of them Apply object-oriented design principles to your procedural C code Write low-level code that's close to the hardware and squeezes maximum performance out of a computer system Master concurrency, multithreading, multi-processing, and integration with other languages Unit Testing and debugging, build systems, and inter-process communication for C programming Who this book is for Extreme C is for C programmers who want to dig deep into the language and its capabilities. It will help you make the most of the low-level control C gives you