Black Magic

impossible is not a C keyword

Learn about C preprocessor tricks

This book delves into techniques to generate C code with the preprocessor, starting with a reminder about what the preprocessor is and how it is integrated in the C compilation pipeline, then building up increasingly complex tools anyone can use in their C projects.

• F.A.Q.
• C Compilation
  • Phases of translation
  • Tokenizing
• Preprocessor
  • Directives
  • The operators
• Getting started: using existing macros
  • Constants
  • Debugging constants
  • Function-like
• A log library
  • Objective
  • Split string literals
  • Current file name
  • Current function and line
  • Define a simple macro
  • Define a variadic macro
  • Bonus feature: Log an expression and its result
  • Convert the line number to a string literal
  • Configurable log level
  • Recap
• Optional arguments: simple case
  • Single optional argument
• Optional arguments: General case
  • Objective
• Counting arguments
  • Objective
  • Solution
  • Usage example
• Quotes about macros
• Reference
  • Macros for writing macros
  • Terminal colors
  • Logging Library
  • Enum utilities
  • White magic