C library naming conventions

Question

Introduction

Hello folks, I recently learned to program in C! (This was a huge step for me, since C++ was the first language, I had contact with and scared me off for

Answer 1

As a library user, you can easily define your own shortened namespaces via the preprocessor; the result will look a bit strange, but it works:

#define ns(NAME) my_cool_namespace_ ## NAME

makes it possible to write

ns(foo)(42)

instead of

my_cool_namespace_foo(42)

As a library author, you can provide shortened names as desribed here.

If you follow unwinds's advice and create an API structure, you should make the function pointers compile-time constants to make inlinig possible, ie in your .h file, use the follwoing code:

// canonical name
extern int my_cool_api_add(int x, int y);

// API structure
struct my_cool_api
{
    int (*add)(int x, int y);
};

typedef const struct my_cool_api *MyCoolApi;

// define in header to make inlining possible
static MyCoolApi my_cool_api_initialize(void)
{
    static const struct my_cool_api the_api = { my_cool_api_add };
    return &the_api;
}