README.md

c-callstack

An implementation to show Java-like call stack in C/C++ code.

Problem

Usually C programmers use int type for the return value of a function, returning a non-zero value indicating that an error has happened in it. However, with tens of nested function calls, it is takes time to know where the error happened at the beginning.

int foo(...)
{
    if (error happened)
        return -1;
    
    ... do something ...

    return 0
}

Solution

Include c-callstack.h. Use NL_RETURN(x) instead of return x in your source code.

#include "c-callstack.h"

int foo(...)
{
    if (error happened)
        NL_RETURN(-1);
    
    ... do something ...

    NL_RETURN(0);
}

Example Call Stack

Make it, and run ./sample. You will see pretty call stack in your C/C++ program.

kangmo@ubuntu:~/c-callstack$ make
gcc -g -O0 sample.c -o sample

kangmo@ubuntu:~/c-callstack$ ./sample 
If you love me, you are in trouble, as I am married.
Error(code:-1) at : so_topless_ranking_server (sample.c:23)
Error(code:-1) at : nanolat_database (sample.c:31)
Error(code:-1) at : nanolat_message_queue (sample.c:39)
Error(code:-1) at : main (sample.c:47)

kangmo@ubuntu:~/c-callstack$ 

License

The source code is released under Apache v2 license. Use it as you wish, but it would be great if you can buy a bottle of beer when you meet me!