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| -rw-r--r-- | lib/idx.h | 134 |
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diff --git a/lib/idx.h b/lib/idx.h new file mode 100644 index 0000000..23020b7 --- /dev/null +++ b/lib/idx.h @@ -0,0 +1,134 @@ +/* A type for indices and sizes. + Copyright (C) 2020-2023 Free Software Foundation, Inc. + This file is part of the GNU C Library. + + The GNU C Library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or + modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public + License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either + version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. + + The GNU C Library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, + but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of + MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU + Lesser General Public License for more details. + + You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public + License along with the GNU C Library; if not, see + <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>. */ + +#ifndef _IDX_H +#define _IDX_H + +/* Get ptrdiff_t. */ +#include <stddef.h> + +/* Get PTRDIFF_MAX. */ +#include <stdint.h> + +/* The type 'idx_t' holds an (array) index or an (object) size. + Its implementation promotes to a signed integer type, + which can hold the values + 0..2^63-1 (on 64-bit platforms) or + 0..2^31-1 (on 32-bit platforms). + + Why a signed integer type? + + * Security: Signed types can be checked for overflow via + '-fsanitize=undefined', but unsigned types cannot. + + * Comparisons without surprises: ISO C99 § 6.3.1.8 specifies a few + surprising results for comparisons, such as + + (int) -3 < (unsigned long) 7 => false + (int) -3 < (unsigned int) 7 => false + and on 32-bit machines: + (long) -3 < (unsigned int) 7 => false + + This is surprising because the natural comparison order is by + value in the realm of infinite-precision signed integers (ℤ). + + The best way to get rid of such surprises is to use signed types + for numerical integer values, and use unsigned types only for + bit masks and enums. + + Why not use 'size_t' directly? + + * Because 'size_t' is an unsigned type, and a signed type is better. + See above. + + Why not use 'ssize_t'? + + * 'ptrdiff_t' is more portable; it is standardized by ISO C + whereas 'ssize_t' is standardized only by POSIX. + + * 'ssize_t' is not required to be as wide as 'size_t', and some + now-obsolete POSIX platforms had 'size_t' wider than 'ssize_t'. + + * Conversely, some now-obsolete platforms had 'ptrdiff_t' wider + than 'size_t', which can be a win and conforms to POSIX. + + Won't this cause a problem with objects larger than PTRDIFF_MAX? + + * Typical modern or large platforms do not allocate such objects, + so this is not much of a problem in practice; for example, you + can safely write 'idx_t len = strlen (s);'. To port to older + small platforms where allocations larger than PTRDIFF_MAX could + in theory be a problem, you can use Gnulib's ialloc module, or + functions like ximalloc in Gnulib's xalloc module. + + Why not use 'ptrdiff_t' directly? + + * Maintainability: When reading and modifying code, it helps to know that + a certain variable cannot have negative values. For example, when you + have a loop + + int n = ...; + for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) ... + + or + + ptrdiff_t n = ...; + for (ptrdiff_t i = 0; i < n; i++) ... + + you have to ask yourself "what if n < 0?". Whereas in + + idx_t n = ...; + for (idx_t i = 0; i < n; i++) ... + + you know that this case cannot happen. + + Similarly, when a programmer writes + + idx_t = ptr2 - ptr1; + + there is an implied assertion that ptr1 and ptr2 point into the same + object and that ptr1 <= ptr2. + + * Being future-proof: In the future, range types (integers which are + constrained to a certain range of values) may be added to C compilers + or to the C standard. Several programming languages (Ada, Haskell, + Common Lisp, Pascal) already have range types. Such range types may + help producing good code and good warnings. The type 'idx_t' could + then be typedef'ed to a range type that is signed after promotion. */ + +/* In the future, idx_t could be typedef'ed to a signed range type. + The clang "extended integer types", supported in Clang 11 or newer + <https://clang.llvm.org/docs/LanguageExtensions.html#extended-integer-types>, + are a special case of range types. However, these types don't support binary + operators with plain integer types (e.g. expressions such as x > 1). + Therefore, they don't behave like signed types (and not like unsigned types + either). So, we cannot use them here. */ + +/* Use the signed type 'ptrdiff_t'. */ +/* Note: ISO C does not mandate that 'size_t' and 'ptrdiff_t' have the same + size, but it is so on all platforms we have seen since 1990. */ +typedef ptrdiff_t idx_t; + +/* IDX_MAX is the maximum value of an idx_t. */ +#define IDX_MAX PTRDIFF_MAX + +/* So far no need has been found for an IDX_WIDTH macro. + Perhaps there should be another macro IDX_VALUE_BITS that does not + count the sign bit and is therefore one less than PTRDIFF_WIDTH. */ + +#endif /* _IDX_H */ |