SuperC is a superset of C

What does it mean that SuperC is a superset of C11?

SuperC adds new rich features to C, without breaking compatibility with C11.

• SuperC can compile old C code without problems
• But regular C compilers will not compile SuperC code.

Differences with C

Even though SuperC compile C code, there are some changes made on purpose over the C spec.

Inline functions

In C99

inline keyword does not always make the function inlined, but rather tells the compiler to decide when to inline the function. In order to make it always inline you would have to use __attribute__((always_inline)).

As a result of this defensive definition, most inline functions are never inlined, which may be unexpected and unintuitive for non-battle-scarred C programmers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inline_(C_and_C++)#Storage_classes_of_inline_functions

In SuperC

inline keyword makes the function inlined always, because it’s the user decision to make it inline or not.

If we don’t want it to be inlined, we can just remove inline from the function declaration.

• SuperC
• c99

• #include <stdio.h>
  
  // both functions are inlined at assembly level,
  // effectively making them macros
  
  inline add(int a, int b) {
    return a + b;
  }
  
  static inline sum(int a, int b) {
    return a + b;
  }
  
  int main() {
    add(2, 3);
    sum(4, 5);
    return 0;
  }
  

• #include <stdio.h>
  
  // maybe inlined
  inline add(int a, int b) {
    return a + b;
  }
  
  // Not inlined, surprise! Disassemble the binary to know
  // try __attribute__((always_inline)) to fix it.
  static inline sum(int a, int b) {
    return a + b;
  }
  
  int main() {
    add(2, 3);
    sum(4, 5);
    return 0;
  }
  

__func__ and __FUNCTION__

Like GCC, SuperC supports the __func__/__FUNCTION__ macros, which returns the name of the current function.

• But SuperC has type methods and symbol mangling, so what should __FUNCTION__ return in this cases?
• For compatibility, __FUNCTION__ returns the symbol of the function, which is the name of the function in regular C functions.

• SuperC

• #include <stdio.h>
  
  int add(int a, int b) __attribute__((symbol("myadd_function"))) {
    printf("%s(%d, %d)", __FUNCTION__, a, b);
    return a + b;
  }
  
  // automatic symbol is "sum$ii"
  int (int a) sum(int b) {
    // __func__ is exactly the same as __FUNCTION__
    printf("%s(%d, %d)", __func__, a, b);
    return a + b;
  }
  
  int main() {
    printf("%s:%d -> %s()\n", __FILE__, __LINE__, __FUNCTION__);
    // myfile.c:15 -> main()
  
    add(5, 10);
    // myadd_function(5, 10)
  
    ((int)10).sum(5);
    // sum$ii(10, 5)
  
    return 0;
  }