All Questions
Tagged with cprogramming-practices
36 questions
60votes
2answers
93kviews
What is the difference between function() and function(void)?
I have heard that it is a good practice to write functions that do not receive anything as a parameter like this: int func(void); But I hear that the right way to express that is like this: int func(...
- 629
56votes
11answers
24kviews
What are the best practices regarding unsigned ints?
I use unsigned ints everywhere, and I'm not sure if I should. This can be from database primary key id columns to counters, etc. If a number should never be negative, then I will always used an ...
- 1,044
56votes
6answers
287kviews
Is initializing a char[] with a string literal bad practice?
I was reading a thread titled "strlen vs sizeof" on CodeGuru, and one of the replies states that "it's anyways [sic] bad practice to initialie [sic] a char array with a string literal." Is this true,...
- 1,523
32votes
11answers
20kviews
typedefs and #defines
We all have definitely used typedefs and #defines one time or the other. Today while working with them, I started pondering on a thing. Consider the below 2 situations to use int data type with ...
- 1,526
27votes
1answer
20kviews
Where did "exit(-1)" come from?
I see in a lot of legacy software and bad tutorials on the Internet that recommend using exit(-1), return -1 or similar to represent "abnormal termination". The problem is, in POSIX at least, -1 has ...
- 279
22votes
2answers
4kviews
Has variable width types been replaced by fixed types in modern C?
I came across an interesting point today in a review over on Code Review. @Veedrac recommened in this answer that variable size types (e.g. int and long) be replaced with fixed size types like ...
- 385
16votes
10answers
9kviews
Preferring Python over C for Algorithmic Programming
I've been studying a bit of algorithms and have been looking at sites like SPOJ.pl TopCoder etc. I've seen that programmers prefer C or C++ usually for most algorithmic programming contests. Now I'...
- 289
16votes
2answers
4kviews
Best overview to modern C++ paradigms? [closed]
I used to write C++ extensively between 8 and 10 years ago. I have since moved on to C# for professional reasons. However, from time to time I see statements like "If you're still manually ...
- 1,159
14votes
8answers
34kviews
Are C strings always null terminated, or does it depend on the platform?
Right now I am working with embedded systems and figuring out ways to implement strings on a microprocessor with no operating system. So far what I am doing is just using the idea of having NULL ...
- 2,748
12votes
3answers
3kviews
Is it bad to refer to access array elements via pointer arithmetic instead of the [] operator?
I've just started learning to program in C, and to improve my understanding of pointers and arrays, I tried to refer to the elements of an array without creating any pointer at all: for(k1 = 0; k1 &...
- 241
10votes
6answers
4kviews
Why are people coding "C-style C++"?
In discussions about whether to cast the result of malloc or not when coding C, one common argument is that if you cast the result then you can compile your C code with a C++ compiler. Why would one ...
- 1,438
7votes
8answers
2kviews
Why has the rate of programming language popularization slowed down in recent decades? [closed]
If I understand correctly, there was a huge birth of programming languages during the early decades of computing, but then things have stabilized. Basically, why are many universities and industries ...
- 6,323
5votes
8answers
1kviews
Grading an algorithm: Readability vs. Compactness [closed]
Consider the following exam / interview question: Implement the strcpy() function in C: void strcpy(char *destination, char *source); The strcpy function copies the C string pointed by source into ...
- 163
5votes
6answers
5kviews
Why is C++ backward compatibility important / necessary? [closed]
As far as I understand it is a wide-spread opinion within the C++ community that certain features of C++ (including some features inherited directly from C), while still usable in themselves, do not ...
- 19.8k
5votes
1answer
474views
Scoping recommendations while developing in C
While developing a library using C, what are your recommendations about variable and function scoping? In C++, OOP and namespaces made the whole thing a lot easier. But how to do that with plain C? ...
- 9,532
