3 ms·

I used libcurl 10 yeara ago in a C project and found it really difficult to use. Granted, I was young and inexperienced but the C API struck me as super baroque

by smabie 7y ago

I used libcurl 10 yeara ago in a C project and found it really difficult to use. Granted, I was young and inexperienced but the C API struck me as super baroque and strange. Does anyone else feel this way? It’s totally possible (maybe even likely) that I was just a terrible programmer though...

brianwski 7y ago
Backblaze CTO here.... > I found libcurl difficult to use in 'C' Umm.... it is literally the most simple API that could possibly exist? Here are the four lines in 'C' to fetch a URL: curl_global_init(CURL_GLOBAL_SSL); // do this once inside of "main()" CURL ch = curl_easy_init(); curl_easy_setopt(ch, CURLOPT_URL, "http://www.google.com"); http://www.google.com"); int res = curl_easy_perform(ch); I'm not sure how you could fetch a URL without initializing the library or specifying the URL?? It is like profoundly the most simple API that could possibly exist, I challenge you to specify any imagined API that is shorter or more simple or more straight-forward??! The nice thing about the libcurl API is the above works and is the "base" concept, but if you want to specify something like a "network throttle" to be polite to other things on the network, you just start adding one extra line at a time to the above code: curl_easy_setopt(ch, CURLOPT_MAX_SEND_SPEED_LARGE, (curl_off_t) (256 * 1024)); // 256 kbits/sec
- rlonn 7y ago
  I founded an online load testing company called Load Impact, and we have also used libcurl since way back. I agree the API is very simple, and libcurl is a very reliable and performant piece of software. Daniel is also extremely helpful while not charging a penny for all the time he puts in. It's a great idea, this "paying back" accumulated moral debt (or whatever you'd like to call it) to open source developers whose software you've built a successful business on. Applauds to you, and to Backblaze! I am not running Load Impact anymore, but will see if we can follow Backblaze's lead here and do something similar.

by smabie 7y ago

brianwski 7y ago

Backblaze CTO here.... > I found libcurl difficult to use in 'C' Umm.... it is literally the most simple API that could possibly exist? Here are the four lines in 'C' to fetch a URL: curl_global_init(CURL_GLOBAL_SSL); // do this once inside of "main()" CURL ch = curl_easy_init(); curl_easy_setopt(ch, CURLOPT_URL, "http://www.google.com"); http://www.google.com"); int res = curl_easy_perform(ch); I'm not sure how you could fetch a URL without initializing the library or specifying the URL?? It is like profoundly the most simple API that could possibly exist, I challenge you to specify any imagined API that is shorter or more simple or more straight-forward??! The nice thing about the libcurl API is the above works and is the "base" concept, but if you want to specify something like a "network throttle" to be polite to other things on the network, you just start adding one extra line at a time to the above code: curl_easy_setopt(ch, CURLOPT_MAX_SEND_SPEED_LARGE, (curl_off_t) (256 * 1024)); // 256 kbits/sec

rlonn 7y ago
I founded an online load testing company called Load Impact, and we have also used libcurl since way back. I agree the API is very simple, and libcurl is a very reliable and performant piece of software. Daniel is also extremely helpful while not charging a penny for all the time he puts in. It's a great idea, this "paying back" accumulated moral debt (or whatever you'd like to call it) to open source developers whose software you've built a successful business on. Applauds to you, and to Backblaze! I am not running Load Impact anymore, but will see if we can follow Backblaze's lead here and do something similar.