10.6. Afterword
The programs shown in this chapter should help to to get a feel for
what middle-of-the-road C programs look like, using the language and
libraries defined in the Standard.
What do we mean by ‘middle-of-the-road’? Simply this: they have
been designed, implemented, tested and documented in a way appropriate
for small, self-contained programs that have no real need to show high
levels of robustness and reliability. Many programs don't need to meet
demanding criteria; to do more to them would be over-engineering.
Clearly, it is entirely dependent on the eventual purpose for which the
program is intended.
There are situations which place very high demands on the software that
is in use; programs to meet these requirements are very carefully
engineered and have much higher amounts of effort put into reviewing,
testing and the control of access to the source code than would be
appropriate for simple illustrative example programs. C is also used in
these application areas. The source code of programs that meet such high
requirements tends to look distinctively different; the language is the
same, but the amount of error checking and correction is typically much
higher. We have not tried to illustrate that type of
program.
Whichever environment you work in, we hope that this book has helped
you in your understanding of C. Good luck!
|
Printer-friendly version
The C Book
This book is published as a matter of historical interest.
Please read the
copyright and disclaimer information.
GBdirect Ltd provides up-to-date training and consultancy in
C,
Embedded C,
C++
and a wide range of
other subjects based on
open standards if you happen to be interested.
|