Generic packages in C

Abstract

The structuring achieved by generic packages in Ada can be cheaply emulated in C by judicious use of the preprocessor. Two files are required for the generic package: the specification and the body. Two more files are used in the instantiation: one holding the instantiation parameters and one with auxiliary code. Instantiation results in normal C header and object files (*.h and *.o). Dependency control can be delegated to the make progam. © 1986, ACM. All rights reserved.