Preprocessor

Preprocessor

Preprocessor: An instruction that takes action before compilation. It may expand source code, include/exclude source code, or optimise code in a particular way.

Preprocessor directives: Lines which start with #, which will be processed by the preprocessor.

4 Types of Preprocessor Directives

1. File Inclusion Tells the compiler to include a file using the #include directive.

   • standard / header file: files provided by the (standard) library. Contains pre-defined functions like printf(). These files are included with <>. Example: #include <stdio.h>

   • user-defined file: header files defined/written by the user. It's a good practice to divide up functions into separate files and include only when needed. These files are included with "". Example: #include "mylibrary.h"

2. Macro Associates a name with a piece of code. During preprocessing, the compiler will replace all encounters of the name with the corresponding code. Macros are defined with the #define directive.

   #define SIZE 5
   
   //  All occurrences of `SIZE` will be replaced by `5`.
   int array[SIZE];
   for (int i = 0; i < SIZE; i++) {
   	scanf(" %d", &array[i]);
   }
   for (int i = 0; i < SIZE; i++) { 
       printf("%d \n", array[i]); 
   }

   Macros can take arguments and can be used like functions.

   Sample Code

   #include <stdio.h>
   
   #define PI 3.14159265
   #define CIRCLE_AREA(r) (r*r*PI)
   
   int main() {
       float radius = 10.0, area;
       
       area = CIRCLE_AREA(radius);
       printf("Area of the circle : %ld", area);
       
       return 0;
   }

3. Conditional Compilation Tells C to compile a specific portion of the program or to skip compilation of some specific part of the program based on conditions, enclosed with #ifdef, and #endif.

   #ifdef macro_name
       // code to be compiled if a macro named
       // `macro_name` is defined.
       // if it's not defined, compiler will just 
       // skip this chunk of code.
   #endif

   You can also use #if,#elif and #else for conditional compilation.

   #if defined macro_name
       // code to be compiled if a macro named
       // `macro_name` is defined.
   #elif defined another_macro
       // code to be compiled if the macro 
       // above is not defined.
       // and a macro named `another_macro` is defined.
   #else
       // code to be compiled if above two macros
       // are not defined.
   #endif

4. Others

• #undef: used to undefine existing macros.

  #define X 10
  // after this, X will be replaced with 10
  #undef X
  // after this, X is not defined
  #define X 20
  // after this, X will be replaced with 20

• #pragma: a subset of special commands for the compiler. Some pragma directives are unique to certain compilers. Examples:

  #pragma once
  #pragma GCC optimize ("O3")
  #pragma forceinline