#c
- Total posts: 13
- Total runs: 0
- Total distance run: 0.00 km
- Total time run: 00
One thing that I find easier in C compared to Python is that loops are not as expensive. And sometimes, things are easier to implement when you can think of them individually.
For example, to render characters with different styles, we can do this in C:
for (index = 0; index < SIZE; index++) { render_character(characters[index], styles[index]); }
This is cheap in C. But in Python, it is expensive. So to make this fast in Python, we might want to do something like this:
for (substring, style) in split_parts(text): render_text(substring, style)
Assuming we can write split_parts without looping over all characters, this will perform better in Python because of fewer loop iterations.
Written by Rickard Lindberg
in #cThis is a short note about my experience with C.
I've previously written about how I feel that C slow me down. Partly because it is a lower-level language than I'm used to. Partly because I don't know it that well.
But yesterday when I worked on rlworkbench I felt that making a change was not that hard. It might even have felt slightly easier.
This feels like a breakthrough for me in my C journey. Perhaps I've learned C well enough for it to not be in my way? Perhaps I've got enough primitives implemented so that I can do some high level programming without more effort? Perhaps the C programming paradigm is more productive? I don't know. But I'm starting to like C more and more.
Written by Rickard Lindberg
in #rlworkbench #cNewsletter April 2026: More C programming
This month I got into C programming and Computer, Enhance! again. One program that I worked on was a program...Written by Rickard Lindberg
in #newsletter #cWhere to put the star in a C pointer declaration?
Which of the examples below are preferable? char* name; char *name; As an inexperienced C programmer, the first example made...Written by Rickard Lindberg
in #cC Extensions (Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC))
Documents C extensions for GNU C. For example long long.Bookmarked by Rickard Lindberg
in #cChecking sizeof at compile time
Nice explanation of the following macro: #define BUILD_BUG_ON(condition) ((void)sizeof(char[1 - 2*!!(condition)]))Bookmarked by Rickard Lindberg
in #cHow to write portable programs in C?
If you want your programs to be maximally spread and survive for the longest period of time, C is probably...Written by Rickard Lindberg
in #cI couldn't resist programming some C today.
The program that I worked on was a program to print unique lines:
rick@fedora:~/projects/cunique$ cat test.txt hello world hello there rick@fedora:~/projects/cunique$ ./cunique <test.txt hello world there
I managed to write it, but I also wanted it to perform well. When I try the above with a 1GB file it seems to take forever, but my Python equivalent finishes in around 5s.
That made me feel discouraged and made me think that I should work more on Computer, Enhance! before I think I have an idea about how to write performant C code.
However, I got to program C and that was fun.
Written by Rickard Lindberg
in #cCan GCC warn about functions that are not called?
I was wondering if GCC can warn about functions that are not called. Here is a sample program where the...Written by Rickard Lindberg
in #cNewsletter December 2025: Progress on rlworkbench
Here is an update on what I've been working on in December. Advent of Code I couldn't resist participating in...Written by Rickard Lindberg
in #newsletter #rlworkbench #cDrawing Images in C
I watched Graphics API is irrelevant and learned a simple way to do graphics in C by using the simple...Written by Rickard Lindberg
in #c #ppmAdvent of Code 2025
Warning: This blog post contains spoilers. If you don't want any insights into this years' puzzles, stop reading now. I...Written by Rickard Lindberg
in #rlworkbench #c #aocNewsletter November 2025: Can rlworkbench replace Vim?
This month I have continued learning about performance aware programming. First of all, I've progressed in the course Computer, Enhance!...Written by Rickard Lindberg
in #newsletter #c #rlworkbench
What is Rickard working on and thinking about right now?
Every month I write a newsletter about just that. You will get updates about my current projects and thoughts about programming, and also get a chance to hit reply and interact with me. Subscribe to it below.