warning: unused variable - c

see in one code i have written
void my_function()
{
INT32 i; /* Variable for iteration */
/* If system is little-endian, store bytes in array as reverse order */
#ifdef LITTLE
{
// i m using i for operating one loop
}
#endif
/* If the system is big-endian, store bytes in array as forward order */
#ifdef BIG
{
// using i for loop
}
#endif
return;
}
by compiling this code with -Wall flag it shows
warning: unused variable ‘i’
why?
how can i remove this?

Put the declaration of i just inside the {} where you actually use it. Even better if you have C99, declare the loop variable inside the for(int i = 0, i < bound; ++i)

By defining either LITTLE or BIG. I doubt many compilers give that warning for this code when one of those symbols are defined. If you still have the warning, then you might change the second #ifdef to an #else.
I don't see any #endif anywhere -- presumably in the real code, those appear.

You need to define either BIG or LITTLE (as mentioned elsewhere).
In order to stop this happening again in the future, you can raise a specific compile-time error using the following:
#if !defined LITTLE && !defined BIG
#error You haven't defined one of your macro names
#endif
Alternatively, you could include i only when using either code block by surrounding it with #if defined as well:
#if defined LITTLE || defined BIG
INT32 i;
#endif
In both cases, note the keyword to use is #if not #ifdef or #ifndef.

You do not have to declare the iteration number. Just do it in your for statement.
for(int i = 0; i < 6; i++){
// insert loop code here
}

hey i got the answer...
see BIG & LITTLE are preposser flag & they are given at compile time.
when i was compiling my project with make file i was giving this flag at compile time but while testing each individual file i was compiling like
gcc -Wall -c filename.c
This was comming because i havent given any flag so compiler going to neglet that much portion of code & i was getting warning.
gcc -Wall -c -LITTLE filename.c
works perfectly...

Related

Will the compiler allocate any memory for code disabled by macro in C language?

For example:
int main()
{
fun();//calling a fun
}
void fun(void)
{
#if 0
int a = 4;
int b = 5;
#endif
}
What is the size of the fun() function? And what is the total memory will be created for main() function?
Compilation of a C source file is done in multiple phases. The phase where the preprocessor runs is done before the phase where the code is compiled.
The "compiler" will not even see code that the preprocessor has removed; from its point of view, the function is simply
void fun(void)
{
}
Now if the function will "create memory" depends on the compiler and its optimization. For a debug build the function will probably still exist and be called. For an optimized release build the compiler might not call or even keep (generate boilerplate code for) the function.
Compilation is split into 4 stages.
Preprocessing.
Compilation.
Assembler.
Linker
Compiler performs preprocessor directives before starting the actual compilation, and in this stage conditional inclusions are performed along with others.
The #if is a conditional inclusion directive.
From C11 draft 6.10.1-3:
Preprocessing directives of the forms
#if constant-expression new-line groupopt
#elif constant-expression new-line groupopt
check whether the controlling constant expression evaluates to nonzero.
As in your code #if 0 tries to evaluate to nonzero but remains false, thereby the code within the conditional block is excluded.
The preprocessing stage can be output to stdout with -E option:
gcc -E filename.c
from the command above the output will give,
# 943 "/usr/include/stdio.h" 3 4
# 2 "filename.c" 2
void fun(void)
{
}
int main()
{
fun();
return 0;
}
As we can see the statements with the #if condition are removed during the preprocessing stage.
This directive can be used to avoid compilation of certain code block.
Now to see if there is any memory allocated by the compiler for an empty function,
filename.c:
void fun(void)
{
}
int main()
{
fun();
return 0;
}
The size command gives,
$ size a.out
text data bss dec hex filename
1171 552 8 1731 6c3 a.out
and for the code,
filename.c:
void fun(void)
{
#if 0
int a = 4;
int b = 5;
#endif
}
int main()
{
fun();
return 0;
}
The output of size command for the above code is,
$ size a.out
text data bss dec hex filename
1171 552 8 1731 6c3 a.out
As seen in both cases memory allocated is same by which can conclude that the compiler does not allocate memory for the block of code disabled by macro.
According to Gcc reference:
The simplest sort of conditional is
#ifdef MACRO
controlled text
#endif /* MACRO */
This block is called a conditional group. controlled text will be
included in the output of the preprocessor if and only if MACRO is
defined. We say that the conditional succeeds if MACRO is defined,
fails if it is not.
The controlled text inside of a conditional can include preprocessing
directives. They are executed only if the conditional succeeds. You
can nest conditional groups inside other conditional groups, but they
must be completely nested. In other words, ‘#endif’ always matches the
nearest ‘#ifdef’ (or ‘#ifndef’, or ‘#if’). Also, you cannot start a
conditional group in one file and end it in another.
Even if a conditional fails, the controlled text inside it is still
run through initial transformations and tokenization. Therefore, it
must all be lexically valid C. Normally the only way this matters is
that all comments and string literals inside a failing conditional
group must still be properly ended.
The comment following the ‘#endif’ is not required, but it is a good
practice if there is a lot of controlled text, because it helps people
match the ‘#endif’ to the corresponding ‘#ifdef’. Older programs
sometimes put MACRO directly after the ‘#endif’ without enclosing it
in a comment. This is invalid code according to the C standard. CPP
accepts it with a warning. It never affects which ‘#ifndef’ the
‘#endif’ matches.
Sometimes you wish to use some code if a macro is not defined. You can
do this by writing ‘#ifndef’ instead of ‘#ifdef’. One common use of
‘#ifndef’ is to include code only the first time a header file is
included.

Is math within macro computed at compile time?

For example, does MIN_N_THINGIES below compile to 2? Or will I recompute the division every time I use the macro in code (e.g. recomputing the end condition of a for loop each iteration).
#define MAX_N_THINGIES (10)
#define MIN_N_THINGIES ((MAX_N_THINGIES) / 5)
uint8_t i;
for (i = 0; i < MIN_N_THINGIES; i++) {
printf("hi");
}
This question stems from the fact that I'm still learning about the build process. Thanks!
If you pass -E to gcc it will show what the preprocessor stage outputted.
gcc -E test.c | tail -n11
Outputs:
# 3 "test.c" 2
int main() {
uint8_t i;
for (i = 0; i < ((10) / 5); i++) {
printf("hi");
}
return 0;
}
Then if you pass -s flag to gcc you will see that the division was optimized out. If you also pass the -o flag you can set the output files and diff them to see that they generated the same code.
gcc -S test.c -o test-with-div.s
edit test.c to make MIN_N_THINGIES equal a const 2
gcc -S test.c -o test-constant.s
diff test-with-div.s test-constant.s
// for educational purposes you should look at the .s files generated.
Then as mentioned in another comment you can change the optimization flag by using -O...
gcc -S test.c -O2 -o test-unroll-loop.s
Will unroll the for loop even such that there isn't even a loop.
Preprocessor will replace MIN_N_THINGIES with ((10)/5), then it is up to the compiler to optimize ( or not ) the expression.
Maybe. The standard does not mandate that it is or it is not. On most compilers it will do after passing optimization flags (for example gcc with -O0 does not do it while with -O2 it even unrolls the loop).
Modern compilers perform even much more complicated techniques (vectorization, loop skewing, blocking ...). However unless you really care about performance, for ex. you program HPC, program real time system etc., you probably should not care about the output of the compiler - unless you're just interested (and yes - compilers can be a fascinating subject).
No. The preprocessor does not calculate macros, they're handled by the compiler. The preprocessor can calculate arithmetic expressions (no floating point values) in #if conditionals though.
Macros are simply text substitutions.
Note that the expanded macros can still be calculated and optimized by the compiler, it's just that it's not done by the preprocessor.
The standard mandates that some expressions are evaluated at compile time. But note that the preprocessor does just text splicing (well, almost) when the macro is called, so if you do:
#define A(x) ((x) / (S))
#define S 5
A(10) /* Gives ((10) / (5)) == 2 */
#undef S
#define S 2
A(20) /* Gives ((20) / (2)) == 10 */
The parenteses are to avoid idiocies like:
#define square(x) x * x
square(a + b) /* Gets you a + b * a + b, not the expected square */
After preprocessing, the result is passed to the compiler proper, which does (most of) the computation in the source that the standard requests. Most compilers will do a lot of constant folding, i.e., computing (sub)expressions made of known constants, as this is simple to do.
To see the expansions, it is useful to write a *.c file of a few lines, just with the macros to check, and run it just through the preprocessor (typically someting like cc -E file.c) and check the output.

"if " and " #if "; which one is better to use [duplicate]

This question already has answers here:
Difference between preprocessor directive #if and normal if
(3 answers)
Closed 9 years ago.
I learned that if or #if can both be used for condition checks.
As we can check conditions using if, why would we use preprocessor #if?
What difference will it make to my code if I use #if instead of if?
Which one is better to use and why?
if and #if are different things with different purposes.
If you use the if statement, the condition is evaluated at runtime, and the code for both branches exists within the compiled program. The condition can be based on runtime information, such as the state of a variable. if is for standard flow control in a program.
If you use the preprocessor's #if, the condition is evaluated at compile-time (originally this was before compile-time, but these days the preprocessor is usually part of the compiler), and the code for the false branch is not included in the compiled program. The condition can only be based on compile-time information (such as #define constants and the like). #if is for having different code for different compile-time environments (for instance, different code for compiling on Windows vs. *nix, that sort of thing).
we could not say which better to use, because one is used in the compilation phase (#if) and the other one is used in the runtime phase(if)
#if 1
printf("this code will be built\n");
#else
printf("this code will not\n");
#endif
try to build the above code with gcc -E and you will see that your compiler will generate another code containing only :
printf("this code will be build\n");
the other printf will not be present in the new code (pre processor code) and then no present in the program binary.
Conclusion: the #if is treated in the compilation phase but the normal if is treated when your program run
You can use the #if 0 in a part of your code inorder to avoid the compiler to compile it. it's like you have commented this part
example
int main(void) {
printf("this code will be build\n");
#if 0
printf("this code will not\n");
#endif
}
it's equivalent to
int main(void) {
printf("this code will be built\n");
/*
printf("this code will not\n");
*/
}
Hey both are different
#if Tests if the condition is true at the compile time.
if is evaluated at runtime.
You should use #if when the outcome of the condition is known at compile time and regular if when outcome is not known until runtime.
#if DEBUG
I know at compile time I am making a debug build
if (date == DateTime.Today)
Depends on what day it is
Some uses of #if are:
You want to put extra prints, or checks when you build a debug version of your code
you want to ensure the compiler doesn't include a .h file twice
you want to write code that will use different system calls, and depending on the system it gets compiled on use the appropriate ones.
Because all of the above are checked at compile time this means that:
The condition must be able to be evaluated at compiletime
The produced code will not contain the branches that evaluate to false, leading to smaller code, and faster, as the condition is not checked every time the program is run.
Examples:
Adding extra checks only for debug mode:
#define DEBUGLEVEL 2
#if DEBUGLEVEL > 1
printf("The value of x is: %d", x);
#end if
#if DEBUGLEVEL > 2
printf("The address of x is: %x", &x);
ASSERT(x > 100);
#end if
Ensuring header only gets included once:
#ifndef PERSON_H
#define PERSON_H
class Person{
....
};
#end if
Having different code depending on platform:
#ifdef WINDOWS
time = QueryPerformanceCounter(..);
#else
time = gettimeofday(..);
#endif

How to compile a C project in C99 mode?

I got the following error message while compiling the C code:
error: 'for' loop initial declarations are only allowed in C99 mode
note: use option -std=c99 or -std=gnu99 to compile your code
What does it mean?
How to fix it?
You have done this:
for (int i=0;i<10;i++) {
And you need to change it to this:
int i;
for (i=0;i<10;i++) {
Or, as the error says,
use option -std=c99 or -std=gnu99 to compile your code.
Update copied from Ryan Fox's answer:
gcc -std=c99 foo.c -o foo
Or, if you're using a standard makefile, add it to the CFLAGS variable.
You'll still need C99 if you want to mix statements and variable declarations. As other answers and the error message itself say, add -std=c99 to the command-line when you compile to enable C99 features [1].
But you have always been allowed to write a compound statement (a "block", IOW, but the standard never uses this word!) in place of a single statement.
#include<stdio.h>
int main() {
int i = 5;
{ /* new block, new declarations. */
int i;
for (i=0;i<10;i++){
}
}
printf("%d\n", i); /* prints "5\n" */
}
This is legal in K&R, C90 (aka C89, it's the same thing), and C99.
Enabling C99 mode gets you lots of cool stuff, but it also disables some other cool stuff that gcc allows by default, like anonymous structures and unions within structures and unions.
-std=gnu99 probably enables "all the goodies", but I caution you to avoid doing this. It will make unnecessary difficulty if you (or others) wish to port the code. I'd probably have a windows version of my pet project, ported for free by somebody, had I not done this very thing. It ties you gcc. You don't want to be tied. That's the whole bloody point of standards.
The other answers give you a work around to deal with GCC's default mode. If you'd like to use C99, (which I do recommend in general) then you have to add that compiler flag:
gcc -std=c99 foo.c -o foo
Or, if you're using a standard makefile, add it to the CFLAGS variable.
It means you can't declare variables in for statement.
You should do:
int i ;
for( i = 0 ; i < len ; i++ )
What you are probably doing
for( int i = 0 ; i < len ; i++ )

Function pointer location not getting passed

I've got some C code I'm targeting for an AVR. The code is being compiled with avr-gcc, basically the gnu compiler with the right backend.
What I'm trying to do is create a callback mechanism in one of my event/interrupt driven libraries, but I seem to be having some trouble keeping the value of the function pointer.
To start, I have a static library. It has a header file (twi_master_driver.h) that looks like this:
#ifndef TWI_MASTER_DRIVER_H_
#define TWI_MASTER_DRIVER_H_
#define TWI_INPUT_QUEUE_SIZE 256
// define callback function pointer signature
typedef void (*twi_slave_callback_t)(uint8_t*, uint16_t);
typedef struct {
uint8_t buffer[TWI_INPUT_QUEUE_SIZE];
volatile uint16_t length; // currently used bytes in the buffer
twi_slave_callback_t slave_callback;
} twi_global_slave_t;
typedef struct {
uint8_t slave_address;
volatile twi_global_slave_t slave;
} twi_global_t;
void twi_init(uint8_t slave_address, twi_global_t *twi, twi_slave_callback_t slave_callback);
#endif
Now the C file (twi_driver.c):
#include <stdint.h>
#include "twi_master_driver.h"
void twi_init(uint8_t slave_address, twi_global_t *twi, twi_slave_callback_t slave_callback)
{
twi->slave.length = 0;
twi->slave.slave_callback = slave_callback;
twi->slave_address = slave_address;
// temporary workaround <- why does this work??
twi->slave.slave_callback = twi->slave.slave_callback;
}
void twi_slave_interrupt_handler(twi_global_t *twi)
{
(twi->slave.slave_callback)(twi->slave.buffer, twi->slave.length);
// some other stuff (nothing touches twi->slave.slave_callback)
}
Then I build those two files into a static library (.a) and construct my main program (main.c)
#include
#include
#include
#include
#include "twi_master_driver.h"
// ...define microcontroller safe way for mystdout ...
twi_global_t bus_a;
ISR(TWIC_TWIS_vect, ISR_NOBLOCK)
{
twi_slave_interrupt_handler(&bus_a);
}
void my_callback(uint8_t *buf, uint16_t len)
{
uint8_t i;
fprintf(&mystdout, "C: ");
for(i = 0; i < length; i++)
{
fprintf(&mystdout, "%d,", buf[i]);
}
fprintf(&mystdout, "\n");
}
int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
twi_init(2, &bus_a, &my_callback);
// ...PMIC setup...
// enable interrupts.
sei();
// (code that causes interrupt to fire)
// spin while the rest of the application runs...
while(1){
_delay_ms(1000);
}
return 0;
}
I carefully trigger the events that cause the interrupt to fire and call the appropriate handler. Using some fprintfs I'm able to tell that the location assigned to twi->slave.slave_callback in the twi_init function is different than the one in the twi_slave_interrupt_handler function.
Though the numbers are meaningless, in twi_init the value is 0x13b, and in twi_slave_interrupt_handler when printed the value is 0x100.
By adding the commented workaround line in twi_driver.c:
twi->slave.slave_callback = twi->slave.slave_callback;
The problem goes away, but this is clearly a magic and undesirable solution. What am I doing wrong?
As far as I can tell, I've marked appropriate variables volatile, and I've tried marking other portions volatile and removing the volatile markings. I came up with the workaround when I noticed removing fprintf statements after the assignment in twi_init caused the value to be read differently later on.
The problem seems to be with how I'm passing around the function pointer -- and notably the portion of the program that is accessing the value of the pointer (the function itself?) is technically in a different thread.
Any ideas?
Edits:
resolved typos in code.
links to actual files: http://straymark.com/code/ [test.c|twi_driver.c|twi_driver.h]
fwiw: compiler options: -Wall -Os -fpack-struct -fshort-enums -funsigned-char -funsigned-bitfields -mmcu=atxmega128a1 -DF_CPU=2000000UL
I've tried the same code included directly (rather than via a library) and I've got the same issue.
Edits (round 2):
I removed all the optimizations, without my "workaround" the code works as expected. Adding back -Os causes an error. Why is -Os corrupting my code?
Just a hunch, but what happens if you switch these two lines around:
twi->slave.slave_callback = slave_callback;
twi->slave.length = 0;
Does removing the -fpack-struct gcc flag fix the problem? I wonder if you haven't stumbled upon a bug where writing that length field is overwriting part of the callback value.
It looks to me like with the -Os optimisations on (you could try combinations of the individual optimisations enabled by -Os to see exactly which one is causing it), the compiler isn't emitting the right code to manipulate the uint16_t length field when its not aligned on a 2-byte boundary. This happens when you include a twi_global_slave_t inside a twi_global_t that is packed, because the initial uint8_t member of twi_global_t causes the twi_global_slave_t struct to be placed at an odd address.
If you make that initial field of twi_global_t a uint16_t it will probably fix it (or you could turn off struct packing). Try the latest gcc build and see if it still happens - if it does, you should be able to create a minimal test case that shows the problem, so you can submit a bug report to the gcc project.
This really sounds like a stack/memory corruption issue. If you run avr-size on your elf file, what do you get? Make sure (data + bss) < the RAM you have on the part. These types of issues are very difficult to track down. The fact that removing/moving unrelated code changes the behavior is a big red flag.
Replace "&my_callback" with "my_callback" in function main().
Because different threads access the callback address, try protecting it with a mutex or read-write lock.
If the callback function pointer isn't accessed by a signal handler, then the "volatile" qualifier is unnecessary.

Resources