This collection of data structures is maintained by
Kaz Kylheku <kaz@ashi.footprints.net>

INSTRUCTIONS

Simply add the necessary .c and .h files to your project.  Include the
appropriate .h file in any translation unit that interfaces with one or more of
the kazlib modules. Then compile and link the modules together with your program.

To use kazlib in a C++ project, don't compile them with a C++ compiler.
Compile with a C compiler, and include the header files in
your C++ translation units. Then link together the translated C and C++.
As of release 1.2, the header files should work with C++.

IMPORTANT NOTES

1. Self checks

The modules in this collection perform extensive self-checks, some of
which make the performance really poor (by actually raising the overall
asymptotic complexity of an operation, for example from O(log N) to O(N).  The
instrumentation assertions can be disabled by compiling with the NDEBUG macro
defined.

You can check that your project does not violate the principles of
implementation hiding in connection with its use of the kazlib modules. This
is accomplished by defining the macro KAZLIB_OPAQUE_DEBUG at the beginning of
any translation unit which includes the kazlib header files. Note that
whereas this will detect violations, it will not result in a translation
that can be linked against the kazlib. When you are done checking, turn
off KAZLIB_OPAQUE_DEBUG and recompile. If your compiler has a special ``check only''
mode which enables it to perform syntax and type checking without doing
an actual translation (similar to lint), it may be a time-saving idea to
use it in conjunction with KAZLIB_OPAQUE_DEBUG.

2. Macros with side effects

Some of the kazlib header files define macros that evaluate their arguments
more than once. This means that if expressions with side effects are passed
to these macros, undesirable and undefined behavior will happen. There is
support in Kazlib for catching these kinds of bugs: compile with
KAZLIB_SIDEEFFECT_DEBUG, and add the except.c and sfx.c modules to your
object. The macros will now parse their expressions at run time to diagnose
the presence of side effects and function calls. It's easy to add this support
to your own code!

3. Thread support

POSIX thread support is enabled by predefining KAZLIB_POSIX_THREADS. Currently
only the exception-handling module has any need for this. When compiled that
way, it provides thread-safe exception handling. Threads can independently
throw exceptions and each thread can install its own specific catcher
for unhandled exceptions. Moreover, each thread can register its own
memory allocator functions.

Note: this variant of the code also depends on the ability to cast between void
* and function pointers, which is a common language extension.

4. CVS identification

The source files contain declarations of a static char array variable called
rcsid. This contains an expansion of the CVS identification of each module,
making it possible to determine the ``bill of materials'' that went into an
executable build. I have now wrapped the declarations of these rcsid[] arrays
so they are conditional on KAZLIB_RCSID being defined. For many users, these
are just a waste of space.

$Id: README,v 1.1.1.1 2008-10-21 09:10:13 cizzo Exp $
$Name: not supported by cvs2svn $
