Linky.md

MData Linky

A generic linked list implemented in C.

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The Linky Data Structure

The Linky data structure is defined as follows:

  struct linky
  {
    unsigned int size;
    union data
    {
      char c;
      short s;
      int i;
      long l;
      void *ptr;
    } data;

    struct linky *next;
    struct linky *prev;
  };

Linky Functions

• linkyAddNode (struct linky *list, data) is a convenience macro that will append the given data value to the given list. If list is NULL the function will initialize a new Linky list for you, data can be of any type (with the exception of float or double for the time being).

• linkyGetData (struct linky *list, type) is a convenience macro that will retrieve the data at the given node. The expected data type must be provides, meaning the user is reponsible for maintaining the type integrity of the Linky lists they create.

• linkyDestroyList (struct linky *list) will release all allocated memory associated with the list. User allocated memory that is appended to the list will not be released, it is expected the user will handle this.

Usage

To use Linky, first you must include the Linky header #include <mbdata/linky.h>. Then, when compiling your program, simply include the -lmdata flag.

Example

Provided is an example code snippet of a Linky list being used to store multiple integers and print them to the command line.

  int x = 5;
  int z = 15;

  struct linky *list = NULL;
  struct linky *temp = NULL;

  linkyAddNode (list, x); /* Initializes the Linky list */
  linkyAddNode (list, 10); /* Following calls append the data to the end of the list */
  linkyAddNode (list, z);

  /* Print all integers stored in the Linky list */
  for (temp = list; temp; temp = temp->next)
    printf ("Value: %d\r\n", linkyGetData (temp, int));

  linkyDestroyList (list); /* Clean up memory allocated by Linky */

The expected output would be:

  Value: 5
  Value: 10
  Value: 15