A curated list of awesome C frameworks, libraries, resources and other shiny things. Inspired by all the other awesome-... projects out there.

Stanislaw Pankevich a4ec307f6e Compilers: 8cc 9 years ago
LICENSE 51696ba50d Initial 50 links 9 years ago
README.md a4ec307f6e Compilers: 8cc 9 years ago

README.md

Awesome C

A curated list of C good stuff. This list contains only free software for code, and sellers who aren't evil for physical resources.

This is released under the GNU Free Documentation License - its text is provided in the LICENSE file.

Contents

Compilers

  • Clang - A C compiler for LLVM. Supports C11. NCSA.
  • CompCert - A fully-verified C compiler. Supports almost all of C89. GNU GPL2.1.
  • GCC - Provides a C compiler as part of its compiler set. Supports C11 and OpenMP. GNU GPL3.
  • PCC - A venerable C compiler. Supports C99. Various licenses, all free.
  • TCC - Tiny C Compiler; a small, fast C compiler. Supports C99 (except complex types). GNU GPL2.1.
  • 8cc - A Small C Compiler

Crypto

Database

This lists databases and data stores with C APIs.

Documentation Generation

  • Cxref - Generates documentation of C programs in either LaTeX, HTML, RTF or SGML. GNU GPL2.1.
  • DocOnce - A modestly-tagged markup language that can be used to generate a range of formats. 3-clause BSD.
  • Docutils - A text-processing system to convert plain text documentation into a range of useful formats. Public domain.
  • Doxygen - The de-facto standard tool for generating C documentation from annotated sources. Can generate a large range of formats. GNU GPL2.1.
  • GTK-Doc - A tool for generating C documentation from annotated sources. Has support for Autotools. GNU LGPL2.1.

Editors

These are specifically fancier, IDE-type editors. If you want a programmer's text editor, and yours doesn't support C, I'd be quite surprised.

Environments

This is a list of technologies designed to bring Windows into the 21st century with respect to support for C.

Frameworks

This section has big libraries that provide data structures and other stuff you expect of a 'modern' standard library.

  • APR - Apache Portable Runtime; another library of cross-platform utility functions. Apache2.0.
  • C Algorithms - A collection of common algorithms and data structures for C. ISC.
  • CPL - The Common Pipeline Library; a set of libraries designed to be a comprehensive, efficient and robust software toolkit. GNU GPL2.1.
  • EFL - A large collection of useful data structures and functions. Various licenses, all free.
  • GLib - A library of utility functions and structures, designed to be portable, efficient and powerful. GNU LGPL3.
  • GIO - A modern and easy-to-use VFS API. GNU LGPL3.
  • GObject - An object-oriented system and object model for C. GNU LGPL3.
  • libnih - A lightweight library of C functions and structures. GNU GPL2.1.
  • libU - A small library of basic utilities, including memory allocation, string manipulation and logging. 3-clause BSD.
  • pblSet - A large, portable collection of basic functions, data structures and utilities. GNU LGPL2.1.
  • qlibc - A simple and powerful C library, designed as a replacement for GLib while focusing on being small and light. qLib license (similar to FreeBSD).
  • stb - A range of single-file libraries for C. Public domain.

Game Programming

Engines

These are provided as examples of C game programming code.

Resources

These are libraries of all sorts that are useful for game programming.

  • Allegro - A cross-platform, video game development and multimedia library. zlib.
  • Chipmunk2D - A fast and lightweight 2D game physics library. Expat.
  • CSFML - A binding for SFML in C. zlib.
  • FreeGLUT - An alternative to the OpenGL Utility Toolkit. Allows the creation and management of windows with OpenGL contexts. X11.
  • GLFW - A multi-platform library for creating windows with OpenGL contexts. zlib.
  • libao - A cross-platform audio library with a wide variety of outputs. GNU GPL2.1.
  • RetroArch - The reference frontend for libretro. GNU GPL3.
  • SDL - A cross-platform library designed to provide low-level access to audio, keyboard, mouse, joystick and graphics hardware via OpenGL. zlib.
  • SDL2- A a cross-platform development library designed to provide low level access to audio, keyboard, mouse, joystick, and graphics hardware via OpenGL. This is the most current version. zlib

Generic Programming

  • klib - Small and lightweight implementations of common algorithms and data structures. Expat.
  • SGLIB - Simple Generic Library; an implementation of a range of generic programming structures and idioms in C. GNU GPL3.

Graphics

Graphical User Interface

These are specifically widget toolkits.

JSON

  • Jansson - A C library for encoding, decoding and manipulating JSON. Expat.
  • jsmn - A minimalistic JSON parser. Expat.
  • json-c - A library for working with JSON. Expat.
  • WJElement - Advanced JSON manipulation library, with support for JSON Schema. GNU GPL3.
  • YAJL - A fast C JSON streaming parser library. ISC

Learning, Reference and Tutorials

This is a list of resources for learning C programming in general, or something useful relating to C programming.

Online

Reference

Beginner

Intermediate

Advanced

Self-study courses

Physical

Reference

Beginner

Intermediate

Advanced

Multimedia

Networking and Internet

Numerical

  • apophenia - A library for statistical and scientific computing. GNU GPL2.1 with some exceptions.
  • ATLAS - Automatically Tuned Linear Algebra Software. 3-clause BSD.
  • BLAS - Basic Linear Algebra Subprograms; a set of routines that provide vector and matrix operations. BLAS license
  • CRlibm - Correctly Rounded mathematical library; a modern implementation of a range of numeric routines. GN LGPL3.
  • Cuba - A library for multidimensional numerical integration. GNU LGPL3.
  • FFTW - The Fastest Fourier Transform in the West; a highly-optimized fast Fourier transform routine. GNU GPL2.1.
  • FLINT - Fast Library for Number Theory; a library supporting arithmetic with numbers, polynomials, power series and matrices, among others. GNU GPL2.1.
  • GLPK - GNU Linear Programming Kit; a package designed for solving large-scale linear programming, mixed integer programming and other related problems. GNU GPL3.
  • GMP - GNU Multple Precision Arithmetic Library; a library for arbitrary-precision arithmetic. GNU GPL2.1 and GNU LGPL2.1.
  • GNU MPC - A library for complex number arithmetic. GNU LGPL3.
  • GNU MPFR - A library for arbitrary-precision floating-point arithmetic. GNU LGPL2.1.
  • GNU MPRIA - A portable mathematics library for multi-precision rational interval arithmetic. GNU GPL3.
  • GSL - The GNU Scientific Library; a sophisticated numerical library. GNU GPL3.
  • KISS FFT - A very simple fast Fourier transform library. 3-clause BSD.
  • LAPACKE - A C interface to LAPACK. 3-clause BSD.
  • PARI/GP - A computer algebra system for number theory; includes a compiler to C. GNU GPL3.
  • PETSc - A suite of data structures and routines for scalable parallel solution of scientific applications modelled by partial differential equations. FreeBSD.
  • SLEPc - A software library for the solution of large, sparse eigenvalue problems on parallel computers. GNU LGPL3.
  • Yeppp! - Very fast, SIMD-optimized mathematical library. 3-clause BSD.

Parallel Programming

  • cchan - A small library for channel constructs for inter-thread communication. Public domain.
  • ck - Concurrency primitives, safe memory reclamation mechanisms and non-blocking data structures. FreeBSD.
  • MPICH - Another implementation of MPI. MPICH licence.
  • OpenMP - A set of C pragmas designed to allow for easy parallelization of code. Standard (licensing not applicable).
  • OpenMPI - A message passing interface implementation. 3-clause BSD.
  • PETSc - A suite of data structures and routines for scalable parallel solution of scientific applications modelled by partial differential equations. FreeBSD.
  • pth - A portable implementation for non-preemptive priority-based scheduling for multiple threads of execution. GNU GPL3.
  • pthreads - The POSIX thread library. Standard (no license applicable).
  • SLEPc - A software library for the solution of large, sparse eigenvalue problems on parallel computers. GNU LGPL3.
  • TinyCThread - A portable, small implementation of the C11 threads API. zlib.

Regex

"Some people, when confronted with a problem, think 'I know, I'll use regular expressions'. Now they have two problems." - Jamie Zawinski.

  • PCRE - An implementation of regexes identical to that of Perl 5. 3-clause BSD.
  • SLRE - Super Light Regular Expression library; a very small implementation of a subset of Perl regex syntax. GNU GPL2.1.
  • TRE - A POSIX-compliant, feature-full regex library. FreeBSD.
  • T-Rex - Another tiny regex library. zlib.

Serialization

  • c-capnproto - An implementation of the Cap'n Proto serialization protocol. Expat.
  • libavro - A C implementation of the Avro data serialization system. Apache2.0.
  • msgpackalt - A simple, light and fast binary serialization library. 3-clause BSD.
  • protobuf-c - An implementation of Google Protocol Buffer in C. FreeBSD.
  • xdr - External Data Representation; a standard for data serialization. Standard (no license applicable).

Source Code Collections

This contains collections of small source code. If you want something big and integrated, check the Frameworks section.

  • CCAN - Modelled after Perl's CPAN, this is a big collection of C code that does stuff. The full list is here. Various licenses (all free software).
  • clib - Something of a package manager for C. Comes with a bunch of libraries of its own. Expat.
  • gnulib - A collection of common GNU code. GNU GPL3.
  • libdjb - A collection of libraries doing various things. (Apparently) public domain.
  • ulib - Another collection of source code. Expat.

Standard Libraries

This contains standard C libraries.

  • Bionic - Google's C standard library, developed for Android. 3-clause BSD
  • dietlibc - A C standard library designed for the smallest possible binaries. GNU GPL2.1.
  • glibc - The GNU C Library; an implementation of the C standard library. GNU LGPL3.
  • musl - A standard C library, compatible with POSIX 2008 and C11. Designed for static linking. Expat.

String Manipulation

Testing

Text Editor Extensions

While practically any decent programmer's text editor supports C, there are some extensions that make it more pleasant. This is categorized by editor.

Emacs

  • CEDET - Collection of Emacs Development Environment Tools; designed to provide IDE-like features to Emacs. Built-in. GNU GPL2.1.
  • Flycheck - Modern syntax checking. For C, it can use either GCC or Clang as a back-end. GNU GPL3.
  • Yasnippet - A template system, with C templates for common code snippets. GNU GPL3.

Vim

Tools

This is a list of useful programs to help you write and debug C code which are not editors, libraries or compilers.

  • adlint - A static analyzer. Supports all of C89 and part of C99. GNU GPL3.
  • aimake - A build tool designed to avoid complex configurations. GNU GPL3.
  • Artistic Style - A fast and small automatic source code formatter that supports C. GNU LGPL2.1.
  • Autoconf - An extensible package of M4 macros that produce shell scripts to automatically configure software source code packages. Part of the Autotools. GNU GPL3.
  • Automake - A tool for automatically generating Makefile.in files compliant with the GNU Coding Standards. Requires the use of Autoconf. Part of the Autotools. GNU GPL3.
  • address-sanitizer - A fast memory error detector. Apache2.0.
  • biicode - A modern dependency manager for C. Expat.
  • c - Compile and execute C "scripts" in one go on the command line. Also has shebang support. Expat.
  • c2html - Converts C source files to highlighted HTML. GNU GPL2.1.
  • c99sh - Run C files using hash-bang. FreeBSD.
  • CBMC - C Bounded Model Checker; a tool for verification of array bounds, pointer safety and user-specified assertions. Original BSD.
  • cdecl - An online service to translate C declarations into English and vice versa. Public domain.
  • cinclude2dot - Graphs include dependencies in a C project using Graphviz. GNU GPL3.
  • Complexity - A tool for measuring the complexity of C source code. GNU GPL3.
  • DDD - A graphical front-end for a range of command-line debuggers. GNU GPL3.
  • fab - A build system that helps build optimally every time. GNU GPL3.
  • GDB - The GNU Project debugger; a debugger for C. GNU GPL3.
  • Glade - A RAD tool to enable quick development of GTK+ GUIs. GNU LGPL2.1.
  • GMSL - GNU Make Standard Library; a collection of additional functionality for GNU Make. GNU GPL3.
  • GNU Global - A source code tagging tool which works with C. GNU GPL3.
  • gprof - A performance analysis tool. Part of GNU binutils. GNU GPL3.
  • Highlight - Converts source code to formatted text with nice highlighting. GNU GPL2.1.
  • include-what-you-use - Helps find unecessary inclusions and make suggestions for fixing them. Based on LLVM/Clang (and only works with it). NCSA.
  • indent - Formats C source code automatically to make it easier to read. Also converts from one style of source to another. GNU GPLv3.
  • Jam - A build system, designed to be easier than make. Understands C build rules implicitly. Jam License.
  • Libtool - A generic library support script. GNU GPL3.
  • Make - A tool which controls the generation of executables and other non-source files of a program. GNU GPLv3.
  • qo - A build system that works without a separate config file. Expat.
  • rr - A debugger that records non-deterministic executions to allow for deterministic debugging. FreeBSD.
  • tup - A very fast, file-based, cross-platform build system. GNU GPL2.1.
  • unifdef - Removes #ifdef and #if directives with their delimited text without touching any other part of the file. 3-clause BSD and FreeBSD.
  • Valgrind - A range of dynamic analysis tools, including a leak checker. GNU GPL2.1.

Utilities

This is a 'catch-all' category for anything that doesn't fit well anywhere else.

XML

"XML is crap. Really. There are no excuses. XML is nasty to parse for humans, and it's a disaster to parse even for computers. There's just no reason for that horrible crap to exist." - Linus Torvalds