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Love to see stuff like this. I wonder why he put all of the code in a header file, though... I've never seen that done before; it seems like it would make it i

Love to see stuff like this. I wonder why he put all of the code in a header file, though... I've never seen that done before; it seems like it would make it impossible to invoke this from two separate source files?

mmozeiko 7y ago
Here's a rationale for this from an author of very popular many single-header libraries: https://github.com/nothings/stb#why-single-file-headers https://github.com/nothings/stb#why-single-file-headers As to how to use from two separate translation units - you need to define PL_MPEG_IMPLEMENTATION to actually include implementation. So you do that in one of your .c files. Rest of includes will have only declarations included.
zzo38computer 7y ago
I like it too, to have just one file rather than many large and complicated files. Some programs I have seen do put everything in the header file, although I prefer to have a separate header file and program file, although having only the header file still works too. It isn't impossible to invoke from two separate source files, because there is a macro that you can define to specify if you want to include the implementation or not.
newnewpdro 7y ago
It's somewhat trendy these days, but the main reason I've found is windows developers struggle with adding third-party dependencies to their projects because their development environment sucks.
- kevin_thibedeau 7y ago
  I think it's mostly game devs backporting C++ flaws into C.
- Impossible 7y ago
  Although this is getting downvoted because it is somewhat inflammatory (stops just short of using "winblowz" and "M$"), there is some truth to it. Visual Studio does have a package manager but its not widely used, and in practice can't be used in a lot of environments that C\C++ Windows developers (often game developers) are using. That said, I've seen stb_image used widely in environments that are not Windows because even if you have package manager and a build system that manages dependencies better than vanilla MSBuild it's still lower friction to include a single header file library. Last time I used xcode, dependency management was about as painful as visual studio but I might have been doing it wrong.
blondin 7y ago
single headers (take it from a non c/c++ expert here just observing): 1. speeds up compilation -- through a single compilation unit. which as far as i understand is making the compiler compile a single "huge" pile of code. and because computers are extremely fast, is faster than figuring out dependencies using a build tool 2. makes dependency management easier (no make, no cmake, no scons, no ninja, etc.) 3. makes customization easier (just drop a macro and you can include just want you need) i love the idea and empathize with the need for it.

mmozeiko 7y ago

Here's a rationale for this from an author of very popular many single-header libraries: https://github.com/nothings/stb#why-single-file-headers https://github.com/nothings/stb#why-single-file-headers As to how to use from two separate translation units - you need to define PL_MPEG_IMPLEMENTATION to actually include implementation. So you do that in one of your .c files. Rest of includes will have only declarations included.

zzo38computer 7y ago

I like it too, to have just one file rather than many large and complicated files. Some programs I have seen do put everything in the header file, although I prefer to have a separate header file and program file, although having only the header file still works too. It isn't impossible to invoke from two separate source files, because there is a macro that you can define to specify if you want to include the implementation or not.

newnewpdro 7y ago

It's somewhat trendy these days, but the main reason I've found is windows developers struggle with adding third-party dependencies to their projects because their development environment sucks.

kevin_thibedeau 7y ago
I think it's mostly game devs backporting C++ flaws into C.
Impossible 7y ago
Although this is getting downvoted because it is somewhat inflammatory (stops just short of using "winblowz" and "M$"), there is some truth to it. Visual Studio does have a package manager but its not widely used, and in practice can't be used in a lot of environments that C\C++ Windows developers (often game developers) are using. That said, I've seen stb_image used widely in environments that are not Windows because even if you have package manager and a build system that manages dependencies better than vanilla MSBuild it's still lower friction to include a single header file library. Last time I used xcode, dependency management was about as painful as visual studio but I might have been doing it wrong.

blondin 7y ago

single headers (take it from a non c/c++ expert here just observing): 1. speeds up compilation -- through a single compilation unit. which as far as i understand is making the compiler compile a single "huge" pile of code. and because computers are extremely fast, is faster than figuring out dependencies using a build tool 2. makes dependency management easier (no make, no cmake, no scons, no ninja, etc.) 3. makes customization easier (just drop a macro and you can include just want you need) i love the idea and empathize with the need for it.