Getopt() but Friendlier

4 hours ago

The article proposes a friendlier CLI argument parser in C that improves upon POSIX getopt() by allowing flags before or after positional arguments, using consistent separators for long options, and supporting short option chaining.
The author implements an iterator-based parser using a struct to hold state (avoiding global variables) and a tagged union for argument types, achieving re-entrancy and a simpler loop structure.
The parser is provided as a C23 single-header library with macros for convenient argument matching (e.g., ARG_SHORT, ARG_LONG, ARG_POS) and error handling.
The discussion reflects on C's poor ergonomics and the value of reexamining established conventions, with the author noting C as a 'comfort language' despite its flaws.

C3 0.8.2 release includes language ergonomics improvements such as reusable target templates for libraries and generic constdef.
New reflection capabilities for generics, allowing inspection of generic instantiations with methods like is_generic, generic_qname, and generic_args.
Bitstruct members now have bitoffset and bitsize properties for detailed bit-level reflection.

Static assert allows compile-time checks and self-documenting code.
constexpr enables compile-time computation, improving performance and reducing runtime overhead.
std::numeric_limits provides uniform access to type limits, replacing macros like ULLONG_MAX.

C Craft14 days ago

Size 0 arrays in GNU C serve as flexible arrays, with C99 supporting similar but disallowing explicit zero size declarations.
Size 1 arrays can mimic flexible arrays where size 0 is disallowed or enable uniform stack/heap interface with pointer-like syntax.
Using 'do...while(0)' in macros ensures safe inclusion in conditionals; GNU C's expression statements offer alternatives.

A guide to designing modern command-line programs, balancing traditional UNIX principles with human-centric improvements.
Authors include Aanand Prasad, Ben Firshman, Carl Tashian, and Eva Parish, with contributions from other industry experts.
The guide advocates for human-first design, emphasizing usability, discoverability, and empathy without sacrificing UNIX composability and consistency.

The author implements a Reverse Polish Notation (RPN) calculator in Rust, explaining the stack-based evaluation process.
Initial code uses command line arguments, parse/match, and unwrap() for error handling, which is improved by direct iterator usage and skipping the program name.
Discussion of Rust's collect() method, type inference, and turbo fish notation is provided.

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