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.TH CALLBACK 3 "14 January 2001"
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callback \- closures with variable arguments as first-class C functions
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.B #include <callback.h>
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.BI "void " function " (" data ", " alist ")"
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.BI " va_alist " alist ";"
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.BI " va_start_" type "(" alist "[, " return_type "]);"
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.BI " " arg " = va_arg_" type "(" alist "[, " arg_type "]);"
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.BI " va_return_" type "(" alist "[[, " return_type "], " return_value "]);"
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.IB callback " = alloc_callback(" "&function" ", " data ");"
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.BI "free_callback(" callback ");"
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.BI "is_callback(" callback ")"
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.BI "callback_address(" callback ")"
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.BI "callback_data(" callback ")"
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These functions implement
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with variable arguments as first-class C functions.
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.I first-class C functions
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means that they fit into a function pointer and can be called exactly
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like any other C function. Moreover, they can be called with variable
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arguments and can return variable return values.
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.IB callback " = alloc_callback(" "&function" ", " data ")"
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allocates a callback. When
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gets called, it arranges to call
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as first argument and, as second argument, the entire sequence of arguments
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Function calling conventions differ considerably on different machines,
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therefore the arguments are accessed and the result value is stored
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through the same macros as used by the
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The callbacks are functions with indefinite extent:
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is only deallocated when
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.BI free_callback( callback )
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.BI "is_callback(" callback ")"
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checks whether the C function
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was produced by a call to
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If this returns true, the arguments given to
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.BI "callback_address(" callback ")"
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.BI "callback_data(" callback ")"
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the following macros can be used to walk through the argument list and
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specify a return value:
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.BI "va_start_" type "(" alist "[, " return_type "]);"
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starts the walk through the argument list and specifies the return type.
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.IB arg " = va_arg_" type "(" alist "[, " arg_type "]);"
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fetches the next argument from the argument list.
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.BI "va_return_" type "(" alist "[[, " return_type "], " return_value "]);"
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ends the walk through the argument list and specifies the return value.
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.BR void ", " int ", " uint ", " long ", " ulong ", " longlong ", " ulonglong ", " double ", " struct ", " ptr
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or (for ANSI C calling conventions only)
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.BR char ", " schar ", " uchar ", " short ", " ushort ", " float ,
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depending on the class of
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.BR int ", " uint ", " long ", " ulong ", " longlong ", " ulonglong ", " double ", " struct ", " ptr
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or (for ANSI C calling conventions only)
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.BR char ", " schar ", " uchar ", " short ", " ushort ", " float ,
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depending on the class of
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.BI "va_start_struct(" alist ", " return_type ", " splittable );
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flag specifies whether the struct
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can be returned in registers such that every struct field fits entirely in
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a single register. This needs to be specified for structs of size
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2*sizeof(long). For structs of size <= sizeof(long),
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is ignored and assumed to be 1. For structs of size > 2*sizeof(long),
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is ignored and assumed to be 0. There are some handy macros for this:
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.BI "va_word_splittable_1 (" type1 )
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.BI "va_word_splittable_2 (" type1 ", " type2 )
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.BI "va_word_splittable_3 (" type1 ", " type2 ", " type3 )
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.BI "va_word_splittable_4 (" type1 ", " type2 ", " type3 ", " type4 )
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For a struct with three slots
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.BI "struct { " "type1 id1" "; " "type2 id2" "; " "type3 id3" "; }"
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.BI "va_word_splittable_3 (" type1 ", " type2 ", " type3 )
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Functions which want to emulate Kernighan & Ritchie style functions (i.e.,
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in ANSI C, functions without a typed argument list) cannot use the
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.BR char ", " schar ", " uchar ", " short ", " ushort ", " float .
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As prescribed by the default K&R C expression promotions, they have
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.BR char ", " schar ", " uchar ", " short ", " ushort
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.BR va_start_longlong(\|) ,
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.BR va_start_ulonglong(\|) ,
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.BR va_return_longlong(\|) ,
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.BR va_return_ulonglong(\|) ,
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.B va_arg_longlong(\|)
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.B va_arg_ulonglong(\|)
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work only if the C compiler has a working
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The struct types used in
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.B va_start_struct(\|)
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must only contain (signed or unsigned) int, long, long long or pointer fields.
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Struct types containing (signed or unsigned) char, short, float, double or
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other structs are not supported.
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The current implementations have been tested on a selection of common
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cases but there are probably still many bugs.
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There are typically built-in limits on the size of the argument-list,
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which may also include the size of any structure arguments.
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The decision whether a struct is to be returned in registers or in memory
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considers only the struct's size and alignment. This is inaccurate: for
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example, gcc on m68k-next returns
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.B "struct { char a,b,c; }"
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.B "struct { char a[3]; }"
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in memory, although both types have the same size and the same alignment.
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cannot be included when
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The argument list can only be walked once.
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All information is passed in CPU registers and the stack. The
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package is therefore multithread-safe.
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consists in first porting the
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packages, then choosing a CPU register for passing the closure from
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This register is normally the register designated by STATIC_CHAIN_REGNUM
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in the gcc source, file
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.RI gcc-2.7.2/config/ cpu / cpu .h.
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Bruno Haible <bruno@clisp.org>
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Many ideas were cribbed from the gcc source.
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ffcall/callback/callback.3
