learn about header files

[Greenhorn]

Hi,
unix provides man pages for library functions. Does it provide a means
for me to learn the library files (.h extended files) (what functions
they provide wat constants they define etc) for e.g., man pages for
example.h
Ofcourse, the header files themselves can be looked into in "include"
directory but thats probably not the easiest way to learn about them.
about using grep, search the man pages that contain entry for
'example.h', probably not a good idea

greenhorn.

[pete]

Greenhorn wrote:

Hi,
unix provides man pages for library functions.
Does it provide a means
for me to learn the library files (.h extended files) (what functions
they provide wat constants they define etc) for e.g., man pages for
example.h
Ofcourse, the header files themselves can be looked into in "include"
directory but thats probably not the easiest way to learn about them.
One problem associated with doing that,
is the assumption that the examples of reserved naming conventions
which are found in headers, are examples of normal code.
about using grep, search the man pages that contain entry for
'example.h', probably not a good idea

N869
http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg14/www/docs/n869/

7.1.1 Definitions of terms
7.1.4 Use of library functions

and

C89 last draft
http://dev.unicals.com/papers/c89-draft.html

and the actual standard (available at a price somewhere),
have a readable description of the standard library.

Be sure to read the introduction to each header,
prior to reading about any function in particular.
and in N869 also read,
"7.1.1 Definitions of terms" and "7.1.4 Use of library functions"
and in C89 last draft,
"4.1.1 Definitions of terms", "4.1.6 Use of library functions"

[CBFalconer]

Greenhorn wrote:

unix provides man pages for library functions. Does it provide a
means for me to learn the library files (.h extended files) (what
functions they provide wat constants they define etc) for e.g.,
man pages for example.h

Of course, the header files themselves can be looked into in
"include" directory but thats probably not the easiest way to
learn about them. about using grep, search the man pages that
contain entry for 'example.h', probably not a good idea

The C standard contains a complete description of the contents of
the standard C header files. The last draft of the standard is
available in text form as N869.txt. google for it.

The actual content of the headers on your system are probably not
too useful. They can be expected to contain non-standard things
used to get the proper standard effects ON YOUR system. The
results are often confusing and undocumented.

--
Chuck F (cb********@yahoo.com) (cb********@worldnet.att.net)
Available for consulting/temporary embedded and systems.
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