fast data writer

fast data writer is a high-performance printing library written in C with inline assembly optimizations. Designed for speed and flexibility, fwriter supports printing of characters, strings, and decimal numbers, while offering multiple formatting options through a custom format specifier syntax.

Description

At the core of fwriter is a custom structure that encapsulates all printing parameters and resources. The structure, defined as f_printer, is designed to manage the output destination, buffer, and dynamic data to be printed. Its key components are:

• File Descriptor (_fd):
  Determines the output destination. By default, it is set to standard output (STDOUT_FILENO), but can be updated to a file descriptor if output to a file is desired. A negative value (e.g., -1) indicates an invalid descriptor.

• File Path Pointer (_filepath):
  Points to the file path where output should be directed. Passing NULL means output will not be written to a file, allowing fwriter to fall back on standard output.

• Buffer (buffer):
  Holds the string data that will be processed and printed. The library duplicates and processes this buffer to handle format specifiers.

• Data Pointer Array (_p_data):
  An array of pointers holding the data values (e.g., strings, integers, characters) to be formatted into the buffer. The array must be terminated with a NULL pointer.

• Flags (_flags):
  Control various printing options such as appending to an existing file or other user-defined behaviors.

• Error Status (_error_stat):
  Records error states during operations, allowing the calling code to handle issues such as memory allocation failures or file access errors.

The library integrates a fast write mechanism using inline assembly for the actual output operation. This assembly routine leverages the system call interface to minimize overhead, providing a significant speed boost when compared to standard C library functions.

In addition to the core printing functionality, the project includes a boosting package that provides utility functions for:

• Determining string lengths.
• Copying and duplicating memory blocks.
• Converting integers to strings.
• Expanding and concatenating strings.

These utilities support the formatting functions in fast_printer.c, ensuring that format specifiers such as $s (string), $d (decimal), and $c (character) are processed accurately.

Features

• Fast Output:
  Utilizes inline assembly for system-level write operations, achieving minimal overhead.

• Flexible Formatting:
  Supports custom format specifiers to inject strings, integers, and characters into output buffers dynamically.

• Dynamic Resource Management:
  The f_printer structure encapsulates file, buffer, and dynamic data management for streamlined printing.

• Utility Functions:
  A dedicated boosting package provides helper functions for common string and memory operations.

Repository Structure

• Top-Level Files:

  • fprinter_utils.c: Contains helper functions to initialize the printer and set up buffers and file paths.
  • fast_printer.c: Implements the core printing function, processing format specifiers and executing the optimized write.
  • gheader.h, gdefs.h: Header files with declarations for the printer structure, error codes, flags, and function prototypes.

• Boosting Package (Directory: boosting_package/):

  • boosting_package.h: Header file for the utility functions.
  • get_sizes.c, memory_operations.c, types_swapper.c: Implementation files for string length determination, memory operations, and type conversions.

Build Instructions

A provided Makefile compiles all source files, storing object files in the obj/ directory and the resulting static library in the lib/ directory. To build the project, simply run:

make