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cmeta/DOCS.md
2026-03-24 23:40:29 +01:00

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# Docs
This file is meant to explain how it's working. I'll try to keep it up to date.
## General idea
Meta programming is really useful, in a lots of ways, that's why I'm trying to implement this in C, in the most pleasant way.
Header-only libraries are also a must imo, so let's try to implement meta programming within a single header! The same header for both compilation and runtime btw.
## Compilation time
`cmeta.h` contains the code to parse structs, lexing is handled by `stb_c_lexer` (for now).
The `bool process_file(const char *file_path)` function calls `gcc -E <file_path>` (so we handle macros etc), then parses the result. It then generates all `Struct_Info`s in a special place in the header, delimited by two `// AUTO GENERATED CODE //`.
If anything has failed, nothing will be generated between the two comments, so cmeta remains intact.
This struct:
```c
typedef struct {
int int_field;
} Foo_Struct;
```
Will be converted to this:
```c
// cmeta.h
// AUTO GENERATED CODE //
static Struct_Info foo_struct_info = {
.name = "Foo_Struct",
.fields_count = 1,
.fields = (Field_Info[1]) {
{ .type = "int", .name = "int_field" },
},
};
// AUTO GENERATED CODE //
```
## Runtime
`cmeta.h` now contains both type infos and useful functions to interact with them.