Thread: some codes need explnation

Hi, The below code is a part of project (opensource code), kindly I have 3 Questions: 1) why do they write a (\) at end of each line? 2) what does while(0) mean? 3) they use expr as a parameter without any declaration of it, then when they call this function such as: vlr = csmap->vlr; ogs_assert(val); the question is: can we consider a expr as a type of variable like (int, double..)

Code:

#define ogs_assert(expr) \

do {

  if (ogs_likely(expr));




  else {




    ogs_fatal("%s: Assertion `%s' failed.", OGS_FUNC,
#expr); \

              ogs_abort();}




              } while (0)

You need to realise that this is the definition of a function-style macro. Thus, it needs to be on one logical line only. To spread it across multiple physical lines for readability, the backslashes are placed at the end of each physical line so that it "escapes" the newline, so you end up with one logical line from many physical lines.

The do while (0) technique is basically a way to group the statements of a function-style macro that consists of many statements in a self-contained way. If you just use braces, a typo error can then result in errors that are harder to diagnose.

The use of expr without a declaration is simply because this is a function-style macro, not a function. You'll need to read up on macros to understand in greater depth. As the abbreviation implies, expr can be an expression, not just a variable name. It could also be a type name, but then it would be misnamed.

3) they use expr as a parameter without any declaration of it, then when they call this function such as: vlr = csmap->vlr; ogs_assert(val); the question is: can we consider a expr as a type of variable like (int, double..)

The C preprocessor - all the #directives - is a word processing program. So #include means "paste text from file x here", #if means "cut this text out if the condition is false".

#define means "sustitute this text with this text". However #define is quite powerful, as it allows for arguments. Macro arguments are variables in a sense, and they are usually but not always C variables at the point the macro is invoked. However they are processed as text. In the example you give, "expr" is a piece of text. It is then pasted into the condition of an if statement. So, as the name implies,
the macro will only work properly if expr is an expression.

Later on it is stringized - converted from text to a C string, the equivalent broadly speaking of wrapping quotation marks round it. This is for passing to an output function that takes printf-like arguments (almost certainly, we can't see the code, but this will be what ogs_fatal() does).

That is a simple function-style macro. What are you having trouble understanding?

If the difficulty in understanding lies with __builtin_expect rather than the macro feature, then read the manual: GCC manual page on Other Built-in Functions Provided by GCC