:IBM developerWorks: The wonders of glib - Making C programming easier
IBM developerWorks: The wonders of glib - Making C programming easier Apr 23, 2000, 15 :36 UTC (0 Talkback[s]) (5219 reads) (Other stories by George Lebl)
"Glib is a utility library for C that makes programming in C much more enjoyable. There are and always have been other such libraries, but none so popular and so well
focused, so consistent and full of features. Before learning about glib through GTK+/GNOME I relied primarily on C. And, being a C programmer, I was jealous of
languages such as Perl and C++ with STL and their nice containers and consistent data storage functionality. The C standard library unfortunately has a large
number of inconsistent and low-level functions that work differently on different platforms or are implemented only on certain platforms...."
"Glib's most prominent and powerful aspect is its containers, although it is also extremely useful in writing portable code. Glib does not require you to restrict code to small subsets of
functionality that work on all target platforms, nor, when you use glib, do you find yourself resorting to prayer as a method of ensuring satisfactory implementation of your functions on other
platforms. It also provides utility functions more consistent than the standard C library, though designed in a similar spirit. Beyond all this, Glib touts the more exotic features of a simple lexical
analyzer and a main loop functionality for event-driven applications."
