Thought Leadership

Article about some subtleties of the C language

January 25, 2021 • < 1 MIN READ
By Colin Walls

My latest article on embedded.com has been published here. I am looking at some of the subtleties of the C language that may be of concern for embedded applications. Here are the details:

Surprises in C code

The C language is quite flexible and expressive; these are some of the reasons why it has been successful and resilient to being replaced by “better” languages. An example of its flexibility is the possibility to write an expression in a number of ways that are functionally equivalent. This enables the style of coding to be adapted to personal needs. However, there is a catch: sometimes, apparently equivalent code has subtle differences. This can occur in the simplest code and we will explore some possibilities in this article.

Colin Walls

I have over thirty years experience in the electronics industry, largely dedicated to embedded software. A frequent presenter at conferences and seminars and author of numerous technical articles and two books on embedded software, I am a member of the marketing team of the Mentor Graphics Embedded Systems Division, and am based in the UK. Away from work, I have a wide range of interests including photography and trying to point my two daughters in the right direction in life. Learn more about Colin, including his go-to karaoke song and the best parts of being British: http://go.mentor.com/3_acv

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This article first appeared on the Siemens Digital Industries Software blog at https://blogs.sw.siemens.com/embedded-software/2021/01/25/article-about-some-subtleties-of-the-c-language/