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Tuesday, 23 August 2016

Awesome C

A curated list of awesome C frameworks, libraries, resources and other shiny things. Inspired by all the other awesome-... projects out there.

A curated list of C good stuff. This list contains only free software for code, and sellers who aren't evil for physical resources.
This is released under the GNU Free Documentation License, without invariants or a cover - its text is provided in the LICENSE file.
This project is part of Peers - a community for growing our freedom. Support us today!
An important note: This project does not index anything C++-related; only C stuff is considered.

Contents

Build Systems

These are tools to automate the building and testing of projects in C.
  • aimake - A build tool designed to avoid complex configurations. GNU GPLv3 or later.
  • Autoconf - An extensible package of M4 macros that produce shell scripts to automatically configure software source code packages. Part of the Autotools. GNU GPLv3 or later.
  • Automake - A tool for automatically generating Makefile.in files compliant with the GNU Coding Standards. Requires the use of Autoconf. Part of the Autotools. GNU GPLv3 or later.
  • Jam - A build system, designed to be easier than make. Understands C build rules implicitly. Jam License.
  • Libtool - A generic library support script. Part of the Autotools. GNU GPLv3 or later.
  • Meson - An extremely fast, user-friendly build system. Based on Ninja. Apache2.0.

Compilers

  • Clang - A compiler for LLVM. Supports C11. NCSA.
  • CompCert - A fully-verified compiler. Supports almost all of C89. GNU GPLv2.1 or later.
  • GCC - Provides a C compiler as part of its compiler set. Supports C11. GNU GPLv3 or later.
  • PCC - A venerable compiler. Supports C99. Various licenses, all free.
  • TCC - Tiny C Compiler; a small, fast compiler. Supports C99 (except complex types). GNU LGPLv2.1 only.

Concurrent and Parallel

  • cchan - A small library for channel constructs for inter-thread communication. Public domain.
  • ck - Concurrency primitives, safe memory reclamation mechanisms and non-blocking data structures. FreeBSD.
  • libconcurrent - Concurrent programming library, using coroutines, for C11. zlip.
  • mill - Go-style concurrency. X11.
  • MPICH - Another implementation of MPI. MPICH licence.
  • OpenMP - A set of pragmas designed to allow for easy parallelization of code. Standard (licensing not applicable).
  • OpenMPI - A message passing interface implementation. 3-clause BSD.
  • PETSc - A suite of data structures and routines for scalable parallel solution of scientific applications modelled by partial differential equations. FreeBSD.
  • pth - A portable implementation for non-preemptive priority-based scheduling for multiple threads of execution. GNU GPLv3 or later.
  • pthreads - The POSIX thread library. Standard (no license applicable).
  • SLEPc - A software library for the solution of large, sparse eigenvalue problems on parallel computers. GNU LGPLv3 only.
  • TinyCThread - A portable, small implementation of the C11 threads API. zlib.

Crypto

Database

This lists databases and data stores with C APIs.

Documentation Generation

  • Cxref - Generates documentation in either LaTeX, HTML, RTF or SGML. GNU GPLv2.1 only.
  • DocOnce - A modestly-tagged markup language that can be used to generate a range of formats. 3-clause BSD.
  • Doxygen - The de-facto standard tool for generating documentation from annotated sources. Can generate a large range of formats. GNU GPLv2.1 only.
  • GTK-Doc - A tool for generating documentation from annotated sources. Has support for the Autotools. GNU GPLv2.1 only (code), GNU FDL1.1 only (documentation).

Editors

These are specifically fancier, IDE-type editors. If you want a programmer's text editor, look elsewhere. Besides, whatever choice you make most likely supports C anyway.

Environments

This is a list of technologies designed to bring Windows into the 21st century with respect to support for C.

Frameworks

This section has big libraries that provide data structures and other stuff you expect of a 'modern' standard library.
  • APR - Apache Portable Runtime; another library of cross-platform utility functions. Apache2.0.
  • C Algorithms - A collection of common algorithms and data structures. ISC.
  • Collections-C - A library of generic data structures. GNU LGPLv3 or later.
  • CPL - The Common Pipeline Library; a set of libraries designed to be a comprehensive, efficient and robust software toolkit. GNU GPLv2.1 only.
  • EFL - A large collection of useful data structures and functions. Various licenses, all free.
  • GLib - A library of utility functions and structures, designed to be portable, efficient and powerful. GNU LGPLv2.1only.
  • GIO - A modern and easy-to-use VFS API. GNU LGPLv2.1 only.
  • GObject - An object-oriented system and object model. GNU LGPLv2.1 only.
  • libnih - A lightweight library of functions and structures. GNU GPLv2.1 only.
  • libU - A small library of basic utilities, including memory allocation, string manipulation and logging. 3-clause BSD.
  • PBL - A large library of utilities, featuring data structures, among other things. GNU LGPLv2.1 or later (library), GNU GPLv2.1 or later (test code).
  • qlibc - A simple and powerful library, designed as a replacement for GLib while focusing on being small and light. qLib license (similar to FreeBSD).
  • stb - A range of single-file libraries. Public domain.
  • TBOX - A multi-platform library with a large number of capabilities. GNU LGPLv2.1 or later.

Game Programming

Engines

These are provided as examples of C game programming code.

Resources

These are libraries of all sorts that are useful for game programming.
  • Allegro - A cross-platform, video game development and multimedia library. zlib.
  • Chipmunk2D - A fast and lightweight 2D game physics library. Expat.
  • CSFML - A binding for SFMLzlib.
  • Epoxy - A library for handling OpenGL function pointer management. Expat.
  • FreeGLUT - An alternative to the OpenGL Utility Toolkit. Allows the creation and management of windows with OpenGL contexts. X11.
  • GLFW - A multi-platform library for creating windows with OpenGL contexts. zlib.
  • libao - A cross-platform audio library with a wide variety of outputs. GNU GPLv2.1 or later.
  • RetroArch - The reference frontend for libretroGNU GPLv3 only.
  • SDL2 - A cross-platform library designed to provide low-level access to audio, keyboard, mouse, joystick and graphics hardware via OpenGL. zlib.

Generic Programming

  • klib - Small and lightweight implementations of common algorithms and data structures. Expat.
  • SGLIB - A simple generic library. Any OSI-approved license.

Graphics

Graphical User Interface

These are specifically widget toolkits.

JSON

  • Jansson - A library for encoding, decoding and manipulating JSON. Expat.
  • jsmn - A minimalistic JSON parser. Expat.
  • json-c - A library for working with JSON. Expat.
  • WJElement - Advanced JSON manipulation library, with support for JSON Schema. LGPL, any version.
  • YAJL - A fast streaming JSON parser library. ISC

Learning, Reference and Tutorials

This is a list of resources for learning C programming in general, or something useful relating to C programming.

Online

Reference

Beginner

Intermediate

Advanced

Self-study courses

Physical

Reference

Beginner

Intermediate

Advanced

Multimedia

Networking and Internet

  • asnlc - A compiler of ASN.1 specifications into C source code. FreeBSD.
  • czmq - A high-level binding for ZeroMQ. MPL2.0
  • GNU adns - An advanced, easy-to-use, asynch-capable DNS client library and utilities. GNU GPLv3 or later.
  • GNU SASL - An implementation of the Simple Authentication and Security Layer and a few common SASL mechanism. GNU GPLv3 or later.
  • GnuTLS - A secure communication library, implementing SSL, TLS and DTLS. GNU LGPLv2.1 or later.
  • gumbo-parser - An HTML5 parsing library in C99. Apache2.0.
  • http-parser - An HTTP request/response parser. Expat.
  • ldns - A library to simplify DNS programming. 3-clause BSD.
  • libcurl - A client-side URL transfer library, supporting a wide range of formats. curl license
  • LibEtPan - A mail library providing an efficient network for IMAP, SMTP, POP and NNTP. 3-clause BSD.
  • libev - Yet another event loop. FreeBSD.
  • libevent - An event loop replacement for network servers. 3-clause BSD.
  • libgss - Generic Security Service. GNU GPLv3 or later.
  • libhttpd - A library to add basic web server capabilities to an application or embedded device. GNU GPL2 only.
  • libidn - An implementation of the Stringprep, Punycode and IDNA specifications. GNU GPLv3 or later.
  • libmicrohttpd - A small library that makes it easy to run an HTTP server as part of another application. GNU LGPLv2.1 or later.
  • libquickmail - A library intended to give developers a way to send email from their applications. Supports multiple To/Cc/Bcc recipients and attachments without size limits. GNU GPLv3 or later.
  • libsoup - A GNOME HTTP client/server library. Uses GObject. GNU LGPLv2.1 only.
  • lwan - An experimental, scalable, high-performance HTTP server. GNU GPLv2.1 only.
  • mongoose - Embedded web server. GNU GPLv2.1 only.
  • nanomsg - A C-based implementation of ZeroMQ. Expat.
  • onion - HTTP server library, designed to be easy to use. Apache2.0.
  • OpenSSL - Implementation of the SSL and TLS protocols, and also includes a cryptography library. Dual Licensed under the OpenSSL License and the SSLeay License
  • oSip - A SIP implementation without additional dependencies. GNU LGPLv2.1 or later.
  • s2n - A C99 implementation of the TLS/SSL protocols, designed to be simple, fast and with security as a priority. Apache2.0.
  • socket99 - A C99 wrapper for the BSD sockets API. ISC.
  • Tox - A communication platform, designed to be a Skype-killer. GNU GPLv3 only.
  • twitc - A mini library for interacting with the Twitter OAuth API. Expat.

Web Frameworks

Numerical

  • apophenia - A library for statistical and scientific computing. GNU GPLv2.1 only.
  • ATLAS - Automatically Tuned Linear Algebra Software. 3-clause BSD.
  • BLAS - Basic Linear Algebra Subprograms; a set of routines that provide vector and matrix operations. BLAS license
  • Cuba - A library for multidimensional numerical integration. GNU LGPLv3 only.
  • FFTW - The Fastest Fourier Transform in the West; a highly-optimized fast Fourier transform routine. GNU GPLv2.1 or later.
  • FLINT - Fast Library for Number Theory; a library supporting arithmetic with numbers, polynomials, power series and matrices, among others. GNU GPLv2.1 or later.
  • GLPK - GNU Linear Programming Kit; a package designed for solving large-scale linear programming, mixed integer programming and other related problems. GNU GPLv3 or later.
  • GMP - GNU Multple Precision Arithmetic Library; a library for arbitrary-precision arithmetic. Dual-licensed GNU GPLv2.1 only and GNU LGPLv3 only.
  • GNU MPC - A library for complex number arithmetic. GNU LGPLv3 or later.
  • GNU MPFR - A library for arbitrary-precision floating-point arithmetic. GNU LGPLv3 or later (most recent versions), GNU LGPLv2.1 or later (until version 2.4.x).
  • GNU MPRIA - A portable mathematics library for multi-precision rational interval arithmetic. GNU GPLv3 or later.
  • GSL - The GNU Scientific Library; a sophisticated numerical library. GNU GPLv3 only.
  • KISS FFT - A very simple fast Fourier transform library. 3-clause BSD.
  • LAPACKE - An interface to LAPACK3-clause BSD.
  • PARI/GP - A computer algebra system for number theory; includes a compiler to C. GNU GPLv2.1 or later.
  • PETSc - A suite of data structures and routines for scalable parallel solution of scientific applications modelled by partial differential equations. FreeBSD.
  • SLEPc - A software library for the solution of large, sparse eigenvalue problems on parallel computers. GNU LGPLv3 only.
  • Yeppp! - Very fast, SIMD-optimized mathematical library. 3-clause BSD.

Regex

"Some people, when confronted with a problem, think 'I know, I'll use regular expressions'. Now they have two problems." - Jamie Zawinski.
  • PCRE - An implementation of regexes identical to that of Perl 5. 3-clause BSD.
  • SLRE - Super Light Regular Expression library; a very small implementation of a subset of Perl regex syntax. GNU GPLv2.1 only.
  • TRE - A POSIX-compliant, feature-full regex library. FreeBSD.

Serialization

  • binn - A binary serialization format, meant to be compact, fast and easy-to-use. Apache2.0.
  • c-capnproto - An implementation of the Cap'n Proto serialization protocol. Expat.
  • cmp - An implementation of the MessagePack serialization protocol. Expat.
  • libavro - An implementation of the Avro data serialization system. Apache2.0.
  • mpack - Another implementation of the MessagePack serialization protocol. Expat.
  • protobuf-c - An implementation of Google Protocol Buffer. FreeBSD.
  • xdr - External Data Representation; a standard for data serialization. Standard (no license applicable).

Source Code Collections

This contains collections of small source code. If you want something big and integrated, check the Frameworks section.
  • CCAN - Modelled after Perl's CPAN, this is a big collection of code that does stuff. The full list is here. Various licenses, all free.
  • clib - Something of a package manager. Comes with a bunch of libraries of its ownExpat.
  • gnulib - A collection of common GNU code. Various licenses, all free.
  • libdjb - A collection of libraries doing various things. (Apparently) public domain.

Standard Libraries

This contains standard C libraries.
  • Bionic - Google's standard library, developed for Android. 3-clause BSD.
  • dietlibc - A standard library designed for the smallest possible binaries. GNU GPLv2.1 only.
  • glibc - The GNU C Library; an implementation of the standard library. GNU LGPLv2.1 only.
  • musl - A standard library, compatible with POSIX 2008 and C11. Designed for static linking. Expat.

String Manipulation

Testing

Text Editor Extensions

While practically any decent programmer's text editor supports C, there are some extensions that make it more pleasant. This is categorized by editor.

Emacs

  • CEDET - Collection of Emacs Development Environment Tools; designed to provide IDE-like features to Emacs. Built-in. GNU GPLv3 or later.
  • Flycheck - Modern syntax checking. For C, it can use either GCC or Clang as a back-end. GNU GPLv3 or later.
  • Yasnippet - A template system, with C templates for common code snippets. GNU GPLv3 or later.

Vim

Tools

This is a list of useful programs to help you write and debug C code which are not editors, libraries or compilers.
  • Artistic Style - A fast and small automatic source code formatter that supports C. GNU LGPLv3 only.
  • address-sanitizer - A fast memory error detector. Apache2.0.
  • biicode - A modern dependency manager. Expat.
  • c - Compile and execute C "scripts" in one go on the command line. Also has shebang support. Expat.
  • C-Reduce - A tool that takes a large C file with a property of interest
    and automatically produces a much smaller C file that has the same
    property. Intended to help create minimal bug-demonstrating cases in complex
    code. 3-clause BSD.
  • CScout - A source code analyzer and refactoring browser for C
    programs. GNU GPLv3 only.
  • c99sh - Run C files using hash-bang. FreeBSD.
  • CBMC - C Bounded Model Checker; a tool for verification of array bounds, pointer safety and user-specified assertions. Original BSD.
  • cdecl - An online service to translate C declarations into English and vice versa. Public domain.
  • cflow - Analyzes a collection of source files and prints a graph charting control flow in the program. GNU GPLv3or later.
  • cinclude2dot - Graphs include dependencies in a project using Graphviz. Any GNU GPL version (due to underspecification in the file).
  • Complexity - A tool for measuring the complexity of source code. GNU GPLv3 or later.
  • DDD - A graphical front-end for a range of command-line debuggers. GNU GPLv3 or later.
  • fab - A build system that helps build optimally every time. GNU GPLv3 only.
  • GDB - The GNU Project debugger. GNU GPLv3 or later.
  • Glade - A RAD tool to enable quick development of GTK+ GUIs. GNU GPLv2.1 only.
  • GMSL - GNU Make Standard Library; a collection of additional functionality for GNU Make. 3-clause BSD.
  • GNU Global - A source code tagging tool. GNU GPLv3 only.
  • gprof - A performance analysis tool. Part of GNU binutils. GNU GPLv3 or later.
  • Highlight - Converts source code to formatted text with nice highlighting. GNU GPLv3 only.
  • include-what-you-use - Helps find unecessary inclusions and make suggestions for fixing them. Based on LLVM/Clang (and only works with it). NCSA.
  • indent - Formats C source code automatically to make it easier to read. Also converts from one style of source to another. GNU GPLv3 or later.
  • Make - A tool which controls the generation of executables and other non-source files of a program. GNU GPLv3 or later (link to the GNU implementation).
  • qo - A build system that works without a separate config file. Expat.
  • rr - A debugger that records non-deterministic executions to allow for deterministic debugging. FreeBSD.
  • tup - A very fast, file-based, cross-platform build system. GNU GPLv2.1 only.
  • unifdef - Removes #ifdef and #if directives with their delimited text without touching any other part of the file. 3-clause BSD and FreeBSD.
  • Valgrind - A range of dynamic analysis tools, including a leak checker. GNU GPLv2.1 only.

Utilities

This is a 'catch-all' category for anything that doesn't fit well anywhere else.
  • ApeTagLibs - A library for working with APEv2 tags. Expat.
  • argparse - A command-line argument parsing library, inspired by
    Python's argparse module. Expat.
  • bfd - A library for manipulating binary object files. Part of GNU binutils. GNU GPLv3 or later.
  • ccv - C-based/Cached/Core Computer Vision library; modern computer vision. 3-clause BSD.
  • cf4ocl - The C Framework for OpenCL; a cross-platform object-oriented framework for developing and benchmarking OpenCL projects. GNU LGPLv3 only (library), GNU GPLv3 or later (other code).
  • CommonMark - An implementation of the CommonMark spec. Variety of licenses, all free.
  • CException - An implementation of exceptions. Expat.
  • dlx - An implementation of Knuth's Algorithm X, with example solvers. GNU GPLv3 or later.
  • docopt.c - An implementation of a command-line option parser. Expat.
  • dyncall - Another foreign function interface library. Expat.
  • FANN - Fast Artifical Neural Network library; an implementation of neural networks. GNU GPLv2.1 only.
  • Firm - A library that provides a graph-based intermediate representation, optimizations and assembly code generation suitable for use in compilers. Comes with an example C front-end under the same license. GNU LGPLv2.1 only.
  • Genann - A simple ANN in C89, without additional dependencies. zlib.
  • gjrand - A library of random-number generation routines. GNU GPLv2.1 only or GNU GPLv3 only (user's choice).
  • GNU FreeIPMI - An in-band and out-of-band IPMI implementation. GNU GPLv3 only.
  • GNU gperf - A perfect hash function generator, given a list of strings. Outputs C code. GNU GPLv3 or later.
  • GNU Libffcall - A collection of libraries for building foreign function interfaces. GNU GPLv3 or later.
  • gperftools - A collection of utilities for measuring and improving performance. 3-clause BSD.
  • hammer - Parser combinators for binary formats. GNU GPLv2.1 only.
  • Hans Boehm GC - Garbage collection for C? Don't mind if I do! Various licenses, all free.
  • Hoedown - A fully-standards-compliant, extension-supporting, UTF-8 aware, fast Markdown parser. Expat.
  • huffandpuff - A minimal Huffman encoder and decoder. Public domain.
  • iniparser - A parser for .ini files. Expat.
  • jemalloc - A malloc implementation that emphasizes avoidance of fragmentation and scalable concurrency support. FreeBSD.
  • jwHash - A fast hashtable implementation. Apache2.0.
  • kdtree - A simple library for working with KD-trees. 3-clause BSD.
  • Kitsune - An efficient, general-purpose framework for dynamic software updating. GNU LGPLv3 or later.
  • libavl - A library containing a range of self-balancing binary trees. GNU GPLv3 or later.
  • libbson - A BSON utility library. Apache2.0.
  • libCello - A library introducing higher-level programming to C. 3-clause BSD.
  • libcox - A library which permits cross-platform system calls and standard utilities across different operating systems. FreeBSD.
  • libcsv - A simple, streaming CSV parser. GNU LGPLv2.1 or later.
  • libffi - A portable foreign-function interface library. Expat.
  • libgit2 - Pure C implementation of Git. GNU GPL2 only, with a linking exception.
  • liblfds - A portable lock-free data structure library. Public domain
    (more exactly, whatever license you want).
  • libimobiledevice - A cross-platform protocol library to communicate with iThings. GNU LGPLv2.1 or later (library), GNU GPLv2.1 or later (tools).
  • libmpv - A music-playing library. Compile with ./waf configure --disable-cplayer --enable-libmpv-shared to not have the music player. GNU GPLv2.1 or later.
  • libnfc - A platform-independent Near-Field Communication library. GNU LGPLv3 only.
  • libPhenom - An eventing framework for building high-scalability and high-performance systems. Apache2.0.
  • libsoundio - A library for cross-platform, real-time audio input and output. Has a range of back-ends. Expat.
  • libucl - A universal configuration library parser. FreeBSD.
  • libuv - Cross-platform asynchronous I/O. Expat.
  • libYAML - A YAML 1.1 parser and emitter. Expat.
  • libxo - Allows an application to generate plain text, XML, JSON and HTML output using a common set of function calls. The application decides at runtime what output style should be produced. FreeBSD.
  • lzo - A very fast data compression library. GNU GPLv2.1 or later.
  • mpc - A parser combinator library. FreeBSD.
  • ncurses - Coloured terminal UI library. GNU GPLv3 or later.
  • nope.c - An ultra-light software platform for scalable server-side and networking applications (think node.js for C programmers). GNU GPLv2.1 only.
  • pbc - A protocol buffers library. Expat.
  • rabbitmq-c - A client library for RabbitMQExpat.
  • Ragel - A DSL for state machines that compiles to C. GNU GPLv2.1 only.
  • sort - A collection of sorting routines, designed to run at compile-time with a user-defined type. Expat.
  • squash - A compression abstraction library, complete with some utilities. Expat.
  • termbox - A library for writing text-based interfaces. Expat.
  • tinyexpr - A tiny recursive-descent parser, compiler and evaluation engine for simple mathematical expressions. 3-clause BSD.
  • uthash - A hash table implementation, allowing existing structures to be stored in a hash table easily. 1-clause BSD
  • vector.h - A header library for typed lists. Expat.
  • Viola - A simplification of libCello. Expat.
  • XLSX I/O - A cross-platform library for reading and writing .xlsx files. Expat.
  • zlib - A massively-spiffy yet delicately-unobtrusive compression library. 3-clause BSD.

XML

"XML is crap. Really. There are no excuses. XML is nasty to parse for humans, and it's a disaster to parse even for computers. There's just no reason for that horrible crap to exist." - Linus Torvalds

from  https://notabug.org/koz.ross/awesome-c
-----------------

目录

构建系统

下面是一些 C 项目的自动化构建和测试工具。
  • aimake:一个被设计来避免复杂配置的构建工具。GNU GPL3 或更高版本。官网
  • Autoconf:一个可扩展的 M4 宏指令包,提供命令行脚本来自动配置软件源码包,是 Autotools 的一部分。GNU GPL3 或更高版本。官网
  • Automake:一个自动生成符合 GNU 代码标准的 Makefile.in 文件的工具。需要与 Autoconf 配合使用,它也是 Autotools 的一部分。GNU GPL3 或更高版本。官网
  • Jam:一个构建系统,它被设计的比make更加易用。隐式地理解 C 的构建规则。Jam License官网
  • Libtool:一个通用库支持脚本,是 Autotools 的一部分。GNU GPL3 或更高版本。官网
  • Meson:一个非常快,用户友好的构建系统,基于 Ninja。Apache2.0官网

编译器

  • Clang:一个基于 LLVM 的 C 的编译器,支持 C11 标准。NCSA官网
  • CompCert:一个经过充分验证的 C 编译器。支持几乎所有的 C89 标准。GNU GPL2.1 或更高版本。官网
  • GCC:在它的编译器集合中提供了 C 编译器。支持 C11 和 OpenMP 的标准。GNU GPL3 或更高版本。官网
  • PCC:一个值得尊敬的 C 编译器,支持 C99 标准。Various licenses,完全免费。官网
  • TCC:一个迷你,速度快的 C 编译器,支持 C99(除了复杂的类型)。 LGPL2.1官网

加密

数据库

下面列出了基于 C API 的数据库和数据存储
  • BerkeleyDB:一个高性能的嵌入式键值对数据库。GNU AGPLv3官网
  • Hiredis:一个极简的 Redis 客户端。3-clause BSD官网
  • LMDB:一个极快,极简的嵌入式键值对数据存储系统。newOpenLDAP官网
  • MariaDB:一个强壮,可扩展和可靠的 SQL 服务器,设计来作为 MySQL 的替代品。3-clause BSD官网
  • mongo-c-driver:一个高性能的 MongoDB 客户端。Apache2.0.官网
  • PostgreSQL:一个强大的对象关系数据库系统。PostgreSQL licence官网
  • recutils:一个工具和 C 库的集合,用于访问可编辑,纯文本的名为 recfiles 的数据库文件。GNU GPL3 或更高版本。官网
  • Redis:一个先进的键值对存储系统。3-clause BSD官网
  • sophia:一个现代,可嵌入的键值对数据库。FreeBSD官网
  • SQLite:一个自包含,无服务器,零配置,支持事务的 SQL 数据库引擎,包括 C 接口。公开领域。官网
  • UnQLite:一个自包含,无服务器,零配置,支持事务的 NoSQL 数据库引擎,包括 C 接口。FreeBSD官网

文档生成

  • Cxref:生成 C 程序的文档,支持 LaTeX,HTML, RTF 或者 SGML 的格式。GPL2.1官网
  • DocOnce:一种朴素的标签标记语言,可以用来生成多种格式的文档。BSD-3clause.官网
  • Doxygen:一个事实上的标准工具,用于从注释的代码中生成 C 文档。能够生成多种格式的文档。GNU GPL2.1官网
  • GTK-Doc:一个从注释的代码中生成 C 文档的工具,支持 Autotools GNU GPL2.1(代码), GNU FDL1.1官网

编辑器

这些是特别精致,IDE 类型的编辑器。如果你想要一个程序员的文本编辑器,看别的地方。此外,不管你选择哪一款编辑器,它都支持 C。

环境

下面列出了被设计来引领 Windows 进入支持 C 的 21 世纪的技术。

框架

这一节包括提供数据结构的大型库和你所期待“现代”的标准库。
  • APR:Apache Portable Runtime;另一个跨平台的实用函数库。Apache2.0官网
  • C Algorithms:一个常用算法和数据结构的集合。官网
  • CPL:The Common Pipeline Library;一系列详尽,高效和强壮的软件工具包。GNU GPL2.1官网
  • EFL:一个大型实用数据结构和函数的的集合。多种许可证,完全免费。官网
  • GLib:一个便携,高效和强大的实用函数和数据结构库。GNU LGPL2.1官网
  • GIO:一个现代和易用的 VFS API。[GNU LGPL2.1]。官网
  • GObject:一个 C 的面向对象系统和对象模型。GNU LGPL2.1官网
  • libnih:一个轻量级的 C 函数和数据结构库。GNU GPL2.1官网
  • libU:一个提供基本实用函数的迷你库,包括内存分配,字符串处理和日志功能。官网
  • PBL:一个包括实用函数,特色数据结构等的大型库。GNU LGPL2.1及更高版本(库),GNU GPL2.1及更高版本(测试代码)。官网
  • qlibc:一个简单且强大的 C 库,当我们想要小且轻的库时,可作为 Glib 的替代品。qLib license (类似于 FreeBSD)。官网
  • stb:一系列单文件 C 库。公共领域。官网
  • libcstl:标准C语言通用数据结构和常用算法库。官网

游戏编程

引擎

这些作为 C 游戏编程代码的例子。

资源

这些是筛选过的,对游戏编程有用的库。
  • Allegro:一个跨平台,视频游戏开发和多媒体库。zlib官网
  • Chipmunk2D:一个快且轻量级的 2D 游戏物理库。Expat官网
  • CSFML:一个用 C 封装的 SFMLzlib官网
  • FreeGLUT:一个替代性的 OpenGL 实用工具包。允许用 OpenGL 上下文创建和管理窗口。X11官网
  • GLFW:一个使用 OpenGL 上下文创建窗口的多平台库。zlib官网
  • libao:一个有多种输出的跨平台音频库。GNU GPL2.1及更高版本。官网
  • RetroArch:libretro 的参考前端。GNU GPL3官网
  • SDL:一个跨平台库,通过 OpenGL 提供音频,键盘,鼠标,操纵杆和图形硬件的底层访问。zlib官网
  • SDL2:一个跨平台库,通过 OpenGL 提供音频,键盘,鼠标,操纵杆和图形硬件的底层访问。这是最新版本。zlib官网

通用编程

  • klib:小且轻量级的常用算法和数据结构实现。Expat官网

图形

GUI

这些具体来说就是控件工具包

JSON

  • Jansson:一个编码,解码和处理 JSON 的 C 库。Expat官网
  • jsmn:一个极简的 JSON 解析器。Expat官网
  • json-c:一个处理 JSON 的库。Expat官网
  • WJElement:高级 JSON 处理库,支持 JSON Schema。任意版本的 LGPL。官网
  • YAJL:一个很快的 JSON 流解析 C 库。ISC官网
  • cjson:一个处理 JSON 的库。官网

学习、参考和指南

下面列出了学习 C 编程的资源,或者跟 C 编程相关的有用的东西。

在线

参考

初级

中级

高级

自学教程

实体书

参考资料

初级

中级

高级

多媒体

  • FFMPEG:一个完整,跨平台的录音,转换和流化视频以及音频的解决方案。GNU LGPL2.1 或更高版本,部分是 GNU GPL2.1 或更高版本。官网
  • GStreamer:一个声音和可视化媒体的框架。GNU LGPL2.1官网
  • lodepng:一个简单的 PNG 图像解码器和编码器,不需要其他依赖。3-clause BSD.官网

网络编程

  • asnlc:一个把 ASN.1 规范转换为 C 代码的编译器。FreeBSD官网
  • czmq:一个 ZeroMQ 的高级绑定。官网
  • GNU adns:一个高级,易用,异步的 DNS 客户端和实用工具。GNU GPL3 及更高版本。官网
  • GNU SASL:一个简单身份认证和安全层和一些常见 SASL 机制的实现。GNU GPL3 及更高版本。官网
  • GnuTLS:一个安全通信库,实现了 SSL,TLS 和 DTLS。GNU LGPL2.1 及更高版本。官网
  • gumbo-parser:一个 C99 标准的 HTML5 解析库。Apache2.0官网
  • http-parser:一个 HTTP 请求回应解析器。Expat官网
  • ldns:一个简化 DNS 编程的库。3-clause BSD官网
  • libcurl:一个客户端的 URL 转换库,支持多种格式。curl license官网
  • LibEtPan:一个邮件库,支持 IMAP,SMTP,POP 和 NNTP 网络协议。3-clause BSD官网
  • libev:一个事件驱动库。FreeBSD.官网
  • libevent:一个在网络服务器中事件驱动库的可替代品。3-clause BSD官网
  • libgss:通用安全服务。GNU GPL3 或更高版本。官网
  • libhttpd:一个给应用或嵌入式设备添加基本 Web 服务器功能的库。GNU GPL2官网
  • libidn:Stringprep,Punycode 和 IDNA 规范的实现。GNU GPL3 或更高版本。官网
  • libmicrohttpd:一个迷你库,可作为其他应用的一部分,让运行 HTTP 服务器变得简单。GNU LGPL2.1 或更高版本。官网
  • libsoup:一个 GNOME HTTP 客户端/服务器库,使用了 GObject。GNU LGPL2.1官网
  • lwan:一个实验性,可扩展,高性能的 HTTP 服务器。 GNU GPL2.1官网
  • mongoose:基于 C 的嵌入式 Web 服务器。GNU GPL2.1官网
  • nanomsg:一个基于 C 的 ZeroMQ 实现。Expat官网
  • onion:易于使用的 HTTP 服务器库。Apache2.0官网
  • OpenSSL:一个 SSL 和 TLS 协议的实现,还包括一个加密库。Dual Licensed under the OpenSSL License and the SSLeay License官网
  • oSip:一个基于 C 的 SIO 实现,没有额外的依赖。GNU LGPLv2.1 或更高版本。官网
  • s2n:一个 C99 标准的 TLS/SSL 协议的实现,简单,快并且以安全优先。Apache2.0官网
  • socket99:BSD 套接字 API 的 C99 封装。ISC官网
  • Tox:一个通信平台,被设计为 Skype 杀手。GNU GPL3官网
  • twitc:一个与 Twitter OAuth API 交互的迷你 C 库。Expat官网

Web框架

数值计算

  • apophenia:一个用于统计和科学计算的库。GNU GPL2.1官网
  • ATLAS:自动调谐线性代数软件。 3-clause BSD官网
  • BLAS:Basic Linear Algebra Subprograms;提供向量和矩阵操作的一系列操作。BLAS license官网
  • Cuba:一个计算多维的数值积分的库。 GNU LGPLv3官网
  • FFTW:The Fastest Fourier Transform in the West;一个高度优化的快速傅立叶变换例程。GNU GPL2.1 或更高版本。官网
  • FLINT:Fast Library for Number Theory;一个支持算数,多项式,幂级数和矩阵等。GNU GPL2.1 或更高版本。官网
  • GLPK:GNU Linear Programming Kit;一个求解大规模线性规划,混合整数规划和其他相关问题。GNU GPL3 或更高版本。官网
  • GMP:GNU Multple Precision Arithmetic Library;一个支持任意精度计算的库。双重许可 GNU GPL2.1 和 GNU LGPLv3官网
  • GNU MPC:一个支持复杂数字计算的库。GNU LGPL3 或更高版本。官网
  • GNU MPFR:一个支持任意精度的浮点数计算库。GNU LGPL3 或更高版本(大多数最近版本),GNU LGPL2.1 或更高版本(2.4.x 之前)。官网
  • GNU MPRIA:一个支持多精度合理区间运算的可扩展数学库。GNU GPL3 或更高版本。官网
  • GSL:The GNU Scientific Library;一个精确的数值计算库。GNU GPL3官网
  • KISS FFT:一个非常快的傅里叶变换库。3-clause BSD官网
  • LAPACKE:一个 LAPACK 的 C 接口。3-clause BSD官网
  • PARI/GP:一个数论的计算机代数系统,包括 C 编译器。GNU GPL2.1 或更高版本。官网
  • PETSc:一系列数据结构和例程,用于计算由偏微分方程建模的应用程序的可扩展并行解。FreeBSD官网
  • SLEPc:一个在并行计算机中的解决大型,稀疏特征值问题的软件库。LGPL3官网
  • Yeppp!:非常快,SIMD 优化的数学库。 3-clause BSD官网

并行编程

  • cchan:一个线程间通信通道构建的小型库。公共领域。官网
  • ck:并发原语,安全内存回收机制和非阻塞数据结构。FreeBSD官网
  • mill:用 C 写成的 Go 风格并发。X11官网
  • MPICH:MPI 的另一种实现。MPICH licence官网
  • OpenMP:一组 C 编译指令,使其易于并行化代码。标准(许可不适用)。官网
  • OpenMPI:一个消息传输接口实现。3-clause BSD官网
  • PETSc:一系列数据结构和例程,用于计算由偏微分方程建模的应用程序的可扩展并行解。FreeBSD官网
  • pth:一个非抢占式优先级调度多线程执行的可扩展实现。GNU GPL3 或者更高版本。官网
  • pthreads:POSIX 线程库。标准(没有适用的许可)。官网
  • SLEPc:一个在并行计算机中的解决大型,稀疏特征值问题的软件库。GNU LGPL3官网
  • TinyCThread:一个可扩展,小型的 C11 标准线程 API 实现。zlib官网

正则表达式

有些人遇到问题时就会想:“啊,我知道了,我可以使用正则表达式”。于是现在他们有了两个问题。- Jamie Zawinski。

序列化

  • c-capnproto:一个 Cap'n Proto 序列化协议的实现。 Expat官网
  • cmp:一个 MessagePack 序列化协议的实现。 Expat官网
  • libavro:一个 Avro 数据序列化系统的 C 实现。Apache2.0官网
  • mpack:另一个 MessagePack 序列化协议的实现。Expat官网
  • protobuf-c:一个 Google Protocol Buffer 的 C 实现。FreeBSD官网
  • xdr:External Data Representation;数据序列化标准。标准(没有可用许可)。官网

源码集锦

下面包含了一些小型源码集合。如果你想要大型且成熟的,看《框架》那一节。
  • CCAN:模仿 Perl 的 CPAN,这是一个大的实用 C 代码集合。完整的列表在 这里。多种许可(所有都是免费软件)。官网
  • clib:一个 C 软件包管理器,配备了一堆自己的库。 Expat官网
  • gnulib:通用 GNU 代码的集合。多种许可证,全部免费。官网
  • libdjb:做各种事情的库的集合。(显然)公共领域。官网

标准库

下面包括了标准 C 库。
  • Bionic:谷歌为 Android 开发的 C 标准库。3-clause BSD官网
  • dietlibc:标准 C 库,可能是最小的二进制文件。GNU GPL2.1官网
  • glibc:GNU C 库。一个 C 标准库的实现。 GNU LGPL2.1官网
  • musl:标准 C 库,兼容 POSIX 2008 和 C11,为静态链接设计。Expat官网

字符串处理

测试工具

  • CHEAT:一个非常简单的单元测试框架。FreeBSD官网
  • Check:一个 C 的单元测试框架。GNU LGPL2.1官网
  • CMock:一个 C 的 mock/stub 生成器。官网
  • cmocka:一个支持 mock 对象的单元测试框架。Apache2.0官网
  • Criterion:一个 KISS 风格,非侵入式的 C 测试框架。Expat官网
  • CUnit:另一个 C 的单元测试框架。GNU LGPL2.0官网
  • minunit:极小的 C 单元测试框架。Expat官网
  • Unity:一个简单的 C 单元测试框架。 Expat官网

文本编辑器扩展

在几乎任何像样的文本编辑器支持 C 之际,有一些扩展,让编辑器更加令人愉快。下面是根据编辑器分目录的。

Emacs

  • CEDET:Collection of Emacs Development Environment Tools;给 Emacs 提供一种类似 IDE 的特点,是内建的。GNU GPL3 或更高版本。官网
  • Flycheck:现代语法检查。对于 C,它可以使用 GCC 或者 Clang 作为后端。GNU GPL3 或更高版本。官网
  • Yasnippet:一个模板系统,支持 C 的通用代码片段。GNU GPL3 或更高版本。官网

Vim

工具

下面是实用的程序列表,包括了帮助你编写和调试 C 代码的库或者编译器,不包括编辑器。
  • adlint:一个静态分析器。支持完全的 C89 标准和部分 C99 标准。GNU GPL3 或更高版本。官网
  • Artistic Style:一个支持 C 的小而快的自动化代码格式化工具。GNU LGPL3官网
  • address-sanitizer:一个很快的内存错误探测器。Apache2.0官网
  • biicode:一个现代的 C 依赖管理器。Expat官网
  • c:在命令行中编译和执行 C 脚本,也支持 shebang。 Expat官网
  • c99sh:用 hash-bang 运行 C 文件。FreeBSD官网
  • CBMC:C Bounded Model Checker;一个检查数组边界,指针安全和用户自定义断言的工具。Original BSD官网
  • cdecl:一个在线服务,能够把 C 的声明翻译成英文,反向也可以。公共领域。官网
  • cinclude2dot:在 C 项目中使用 Graphviz 的图像包含依赖。任官网 GNU GPL 版本(根据文件中的要求)官网
  • Complexity:一个测量 C 代码复杂性的工具。GNU GPL3 或更高版本。官网
  • DDD:各种命令行调试器的图形前端。GNU GPL3 或更高版本。官网
  • fab:让每次构建都最优的构建系统。GNU GPL3官网
  • GDB:The GNU Project debugger;一个 C 调试器。GNU GPL3 或更高版本。官网
  • Glade:一个让 TK+ GUIs 开发更快的 RAD 工具。GNU GPL2.1官网
  • GMSL:GNU Make Standard Library;一个 GNU Make 额外功能的集合。3-clause BSD官网
  • GNU Global:一个 C 的源码标签工具。GNU GPL3官网 Global
  • gprof:一个性能分析工具。GNU binutils 的一部分。GNU GPL3 或更高版本。官网
  • Highlight:把源码转化为高亮的格式化文本。GNU GPL3官网
  • include-what-you-use:帮助程序员发现不必要的包含和提供解决他们的建议。基于 LLVM/Clang(只能与它一起工作)。NCSA官网
  • indent:自动格式化 C 代码,让它更容易阅读。也能把一种风格的代码转化为另一种。GNU GPL3 或更高版本。官网
  • Make:一个控制程序的可执行和其他非代码文件的生成的工具。GNU GPL3 或更高版本(链接到 GNU 的实现)。官网
  • qo:无需分开的配置文件的构建系统。Expat官网
  • rr:记录非确定执行来允许可确定调试的调试器。FreeBSD官网
  • tup:一个很快,基于文件,跨平台的构建系统。GNU GPL2.1官网
  • unifdef:移除 #ifdef 和 #if 指令包含的文本,不会改变文件的其他部分。3-clause BSD 和 FreeBSD官网
  • Valgrind:各种动态分析工具,包括一个内存泄漏检测工具。GNU GPL2.1官网

其他工具

下面是包罗万象的目录,主要是那些不适合放在其他目录的东西。
  • ApeTagLibs:APEv2 标签的 C 库。Expat官网
  • bfd:处理二进制对象文件的库。GNU binutils 的一部分。GNU GPL3 或更高版本。官网
  • ccv:C-based/Cached/Core Computer Vision library;现代计算机视觉。 3-clause BSD官网
  • cf4ocl:The C Framework for OpenCL;一个跨平台面向对象框架,用于开发和用基准问题测试 OpenCL 项目。GNU LGPL3(库), GNU GPL3(其他代码)。官网
  • CommonMark:CommonMark 规范的 C 实现。Variety of licenses, all free官网
  • CException:异常的 C 实现。Expat官网
  • docopt.c:命令行选项解析器的 C 实现。Expat官网
  • dyncall:另一个外部函数接口库。Expat官网
  • FANN:Fast Artifical Neural Network library;一个神经网络的实现。GNU GPL2.1官网
  • Firm:一个 C 库,提供了基于图像中间表示,优化和适合编译器的汇编代码生成。配备了 C 的前端例子,使用相同的许可。GNU LGPLv2.1官网
  • gjrand:随机数字生成的例程库。GNU GPL2.1 或者 GNU GPLv3(用户的选择)。官网
  • GNU FreeIPMI:一个带内和带外的 IPMI 实现。GNU GPL3官网 FreeIPMI
  • GNU gperf:一个完美的哈希函数生成器,提供一系列的字符串。输出 C 代码。GNU GPL3 或更高版本。官网
  • GNU Libffcall:一个构建外部函数接口库的集合。GNU GPL3 或更高版本。官网
  • gperftools:一系列测量和提高性能的实用工具集合。3-clause BSD官网
  • hammer:二进制格式的解析器组合。GPL2.1.官网
  • Hans Boehm GC:C 的垃圾收集器?如果我用了不要介意。多种许可证,完全免费。官网
  • huffandpuff:一个极小的哈夫曼编码器和解码器。公共领域。官网
  • iniparser:一个 .ini 文件的解析器。Expat官网
  • jemalloc:一个 malloc 实现,着重于段错误的避免和可扩展并发支持。FreeBSD官网
  • jwHash:一个很快的哈希表实现。Apache2.0官网
  • kdtree:KD-trees 的简单库。3-clause BSD官网
  • Kitsune:高效,通用的框架,用于软件的动态升级。 GNU LGPL3 或更高版本。官网
  • libavl:一个包括各种自平衡二叉树的库。GNU GPL3 或更高版本。官网
  • libbson:BSON 实用库。Apache2.0官网
  • libCello:引入高级语言给 C 的库。官网
  • libcox:一个运行跨平台系统调用和跨系统标准工具的库。FreeBSD官网
  • libffi:轻量级的外部函数接口库。Expat官网
  • libgit2:Git 的纯 C 实现。GNU GPL2 only, with a linking exception官网
  • libimobiledevice:一个跨平台协议库,用于与 iThings 通信。GNU LGPLv2.1 或更高版本(库),GNU GPL2.1 或更高版本(工具)。官网
  • libmpv:音乐播放库。编译的时候加入 ./waf configure --disable-cplayer --enable-libmpv-shared 来避免生成音乐播放器。GNU GPL2.1 或更高版本。官网
  • libnfc:一个平台独立的 NFC 库。GNU LGPL3官网
  • libPhenom:事件框架,用于构建高扩展和高性能系统。Apache2.0官网
  • libsoundio:跨平台,实时音频输入输出的库,有很多种后端。Expat官网
  • libucl:通用配置库解析器。FreeBSD官网
  • libudp:一个统一设计模式的 C 实现。GNU GPL3 或更高版本。官网
  • libuv:跨平台异步 I/O。Expat官网
  • libYAML:一个 YAML 1.1 解析器和发射器。 Expat官网
  • lzo:一个很快的数据压缩库。GNU GPL2.1官网
  • mpc:解析器组合库。FreeBSD官网
  • ncurses:彩色的终端 UI 库。GNU GPL3 或更高版本。官网
  • nope.c:一个基于 C 语言,超级轻量级的软件平台,用于可扩展服务端和网络应用的开发(想想 C 程序员的 nodejs)。官网
  • pbc:一个协议缓冲库。Expat官网
  • rabbitmq-c:RabbitMQ 的客户端库。Expat官网
  • Ragel:为编译C的状态机的DSL。GNU GPL2.1官网
  • uthash:哈希表实现,允许已经存在的数据结构很容易地存在哈希表里面。1-clause BSD官网
  • Viola:libCello 的简化版本。Expat官网
  • zlib:一个相当漂亮却精致不张扬的压缩库。3-clause BSD官网

XML

“XML 是垃圾。真的,没有任何借口。XML 对人类不友好的,甚至对于电脑来说也是一场灾难。根官网 -Linus Torvalds

其他资源

有影响力的书

具有广泛影响且值得阅读的 C 语言经典书籍。
  • 待补充

知名网站/博客

值得关注的 C 语言技术站点和博客。

中文

  • 待补充

英文

  • 待补充

微信公众号

  • CPP开发者:专注分享 C/C++ 开发相关的技术文章和工具资源。 
from https://github.com/jobbole/awesome-c-cn
----------------------

from http://hao.jobbole.com/?catid=1877

XML

更多 »
  • mini-xml

    不依赖C标准库的小型XML读写库
  • libxml2

    兼容多种标准的轻量级XML解析器
  • Expat

    面向流的C语言XML解析器

工具

更多 »
  • Complexity

    一个测量 C 代码复杂性的工具
  • biicode

    一个现代的 C 依赖管理器

框架

更多 »
  • libcstl

    标准C语言通用数据结构和常用算法库

游戏编程

更多 »
  • Quake2

    划时代的始祖级3D第一人称射击游戏

文本编辑器扩展

更多 »

其他工具

更多 »




-----

A curated list of awesome C frameworks, libraries, resources and other shiny things. Inspired by all the other awesome-... projects out there.

Awesome C

A curated list of C good stuff. This list contains only open source code (as defined by the linked Open Source Definition), and sellers who aren't evil for physical resources.

This is released under a Creative Commons-Attribution-ShareAlike license, version 4 (SPDX code CC-BY-SA-4.0). You can find its text in the LICENSE file.

An important note: This project does not index anything C++-related; only pure C stuff is considered.

Note for contributors: If you want to make a pull request, please read CONTRIBUTING.md first.

Contents

AI

Computer vision, neural nets, machine learning, and other similar things. Basically, if your university calls it AI, it lives here.

  • ccv - C-based/Cached/Core Computer Vision library; modern computer vision. BSD-3-Clause
  • Cranium - Portable, header-only ANN library in C99. MIT
  • FANN - Fast Artifical Neural Network library; an implementation of neural networks. GPL-2.0-only
  • Genann - Simple ANN in C89, without additional dependencies. Zlib
  • KANN - Two-file ANN library. MIT
  • LibDEEP - Deep learning library. BSD-3-Clause

Benchmarking

Comparing the performance of various subsystems across different chip/system architectures.

Build Systems

Tools that automate the building and testing of projects in C.

  • Autotools - Also known as the GNU build system (automake, autoconf, libtool...) is one of the most widely used build systems (configure && make). GPL-1.0-or-later
  • Autotools project skeleton - A simple autotools skeleton (template) to quickly bootstrap new projects. BSD-2-Clause
  • CMake - Cross-platform family of tools designed to build, package and test software. BSD-3-Clause
  • GNU Make - Tool which controls the generation of executables and other non-source files of a program. GPL-3.0-or-later
  • Meson - Extremely fast, user-friendly build system. Based on Ninja. Apache-2.0
  • Premake - Command-line utility which reads a scripted definition of a software project and uses it to generate project files for Visual Studio and GNU Make. Other targets are also being worked on. BSD-3-Clause
  • SCons - Software construction tool using Python. MIT
  • xmake - Cross-platform build utility. Apache-2.0
  • zproject - Project generator and build system support tool. MPL-2.0

Compilers

Compilers, as well as compiler- and compilation-related tooling.

  • ccache - Compiler cache designed to speed up recompilation. GPL-3.0-or-later
  • Clang - Compiler for LLVM. Supports C11. NCSA
  • cproc - A C11 compiler using QBE as a backend. ISC
  • distcc - Program that allows builds to be distributed among several machines. GPL-2.0-or-later
  • Firm - Library that provides a graph-based intermediate representation, optimizations and assembly code generation suitable for use in compilers. Comes with an example C front-end under the same license. LGPL-2.1-only
  • GCC - Provides a C compiler as part of its compiler set. Supports C11. GPL-3.0-or-later
  • PCC - Venerable compiler. Supports C99. Various licenses, all open source.

Compression

  • blosc - Extremely fast, multi-threaded, meta-compressor library. Various licenses, all open source.
  • Brotli - General-purpose lossless compression algorithm library. Has speeds comparable to DEFLATE, but much higher compression ratios. MIT.
  • clzip - C version of the high-quality data compressor Lzip (LZMA implementation). GPL-2.0-or-later
  • CRoaring - C implementation of Roaring bitmapsApache-2.0
  • FiniteStateEntropy - Two highly efficient compression codecs optimized for modern CPUs. BSD-2-Clause
  • DENSITY - Super-fast compression library. BSD-3-Clause
  • heatshrink - Data compression/decompression library for embedded and real-time systems. ISC
  • fast_zlib - Improved zlib, which runs 2 to 10 times faster. BSD-3-Clause
  • fastLZ - Lightning-fast lossless compression library (LZ77 type). Embbedable on small target like ARM Cortex-M families. Source code directly embbedable on your project ( a pair of h/c files), no dynamic memory allocation. MIT
  • huffandpuff - Minimal Huffman encoder and decoder. Public domain.
  • libzip - C library for reading, creating and modifying zip archives. BSD-3-Clause
  • libbzip2 - Patent-free, high-quality data compression library. BSD-4-Clause
  • Lizard - Formerly LZ5; an efficient compressor with fast decompression. Achieves compression ratios comparable with zip and zlib at decompression speeds of 1000MB/s and faster. BSD-2-Clause
  • lz4 - Library for an extremely fast compression algorithm. BSD-2-Clause
  • lzo - Fast data compression library. GPL-2.0-or-later
  • pixz - Parallel, indexed xz compressor. BSD-2-Clause
  • shoco - Compressor for small text strings. MIT
  • SIMDComp - Simple library for compressing lists of integers using binary packing. Makes use of SIMD instructions on x86. BSD-3-Clause
  • smaz - Efficient string compression library. BSD-3-Clause
  • squash - Compression abstraction library, complete with some utilities. MIT
  • TurboPFor - Fastest integer compression. GPL-2.0-or-later
  • TurboRLE - Most efficient run-length encoding. GPL-2.0-or-later
  • zip - Really really small zip archive processing library. Unlicense
  • Zlib - Massively spiffy yet delicately unobtrusive compression library. BSD-3-Clause
  • libarchive - libarchive is a portable, efficient C library that can read and write streaming archives in a variety of formats. BSD-3-Clause
  • zlib-ng - Zlib replacement with optimizations for 'next-generation' systems. BSD-3-Clause
  • Zstandard - Fast, lossless compression algorithm, targeting real-time compression scenarios at zlib-level or better compression ratios. BSD-3-Clause

Concurrency and Parallelism

  • cchan - Small library for channel constructs for inter-thread communication. Public domain.
  • checkedthreads - A simple library for parallelism, with built-in checking for race conditions. BSD-2-Clause
  • ck - Concurrency primitives, safe memory reclamation mechanisms and non-blocking data structures. BSD-2-Clause
  • FCFS RWLock - First-come first-served Readers/Writers lock for POSIX threads. CC0-1.0
  • Libaco - A blazing fast and lightweight C asymmetric coroutine library. Apache-2.0
  • libconcurrent - Concurrent programming library, using coroutines, for C11. BSD-3-Clause
  • libcsp - High performance concurrency C library influenced by the CSP model. MIT
  • libdill - Library which makes structured concurrent programming easy. MIT
  • libhl - Library implementing a thread-safe API to manage a range of data structures. Also provides some supporting functions and structures for concurrent and lockfree programming. LGPL-3.0-only
  • liburcu - Data synchronization library, which scales linearly with the number of cores. LGPL-2.1-or-later
  • mill - Go-style concurrency. MIT
  • oclkit - Two-file OpenCL wrapper. GPL-3.0-or-later
  • OCL-MLA - OpenCL Mid-Level Abstractions. BSD-3-Clause
  • OpenMP - Set of pragmas designed to allow for easy parallelization of code. Standard (licensing not applicable).
  • OpenMPI - Message passing interface implementation. BSD-3-Clause
  • pal - Optimized library for maths, parallel processing and data movement. Apache-2.0
  • pth - Portable implementation for non-preemptive priority-based scheduling for multiple threads of execution. GPL-3.0-or-later
  • pthreads - POSIX thread library. Standard (no license applicable).
  • TinyCThread - Portable, small implementation of the C11 threads API. Zlib

Crypto

Mostly library implementations of well-known cryptographic algorithms or protocols.

  • GNU SASL - Implementation of the Simple Authentication and Security Layer and a few common SASL mechanism. GPL-3.0-or-later
  • GnuTLS - Secure communication library, implementing SSL, TLS and DTLS. LGPL-2.1-or-later
  • libgcrypt - General-purpose cryptography library, with a range of available ciphers. LGPL-2.1-or-later
  • OpenSSL - Implementation of the SSL and TLS protocols. Also includes a cryptography library. Dual Licensed under the OpenSSL License and the SSLeay License.
  • liboqs - Library for quantum-resistant cryptographicl algorithms. MIT
  • libsodium - Modern and easy-to-use crypto library. MIT
  • libtomcrypt - Fairly comprehensive, modular and portable cryptographic toolkit. Public domain.
  • mbed TLS - Another crypto implementation. Apache-2.0
  • MIRACL - Multiprecision Integer and Rational Arithmetic Cryptographic Library; an SDK for elliptic curve cryptography. AGPL-3.0-or-later
  • retter - Collection of hash functions, ciphers, tools, libraries and materials related to cryptography and security. Public domain.
  • s2n - C99 implementation of the TLS/SSL protocols, designed to be simple, fast and with security as a priority. Apache-2.0
  • sphlib - Set of implementations of various hash functions, including several cryptographic ones. MIT
  • trezor-crypto - Heavily optimized crypto algorithms for embedded devices. MIT
  • bfish - A single include C99 Blowfish ECB crypto library. Public domain.

Database

Databases and data stores with C APIs.

Data Structures

  • C-Macro-Collections - Generate simple and generic data structures using macros. MIT
  • CLIST - Simple and lightweight dynamic array implementation. BSD-2-Clause
  • Collections-C - Library of generic data structures. LGPL-3.0-or-later
  • ds - Common Data Structures and Algorithms. MIT
  • igraph - A graph processing library. GPL-2.0-or-later
  • kdtree - Simple library for working with KD-trees. BSD-3-Clause
  • libavl - Library containing a range of self-balancing binary trees. GPL-3.0-or-later
  • libcdada - A small, portable, MACRO-less library for basic data structures (list, set, map, queue...) in C (C++ backend). BSD-2-Clause
  • liblfds - Portable lock-free data structure library. Public domain (more exactly, whatever license you want).
  • libsrt - Soft and hard real-time data structures. BSD-3-Clause.
  • list.h - Implementations for singly linked and doubly linked list functions. GPL-3.0-only
  • M*LIB - Library for generic, but typesafe C containers. Implemented as header-only. BSD-2-Clause
  • offbrand - Collection of generic, reference-counted data structures. MIT
  • PackedArray - Random-access array of tightly packed unsigned integers of any desired width. Has a SIMD-optimized implementation. WTFPL
  • rb3ptr - Red-Black tree. Exposes almost all implementation primitives, so can be used for scenarios like augmentation, multiple compatible ordering functions, and more. MIT
  • uthash - Single-file hash table implementation. BSD-1-Clause
  • vector.h - Header library for typed lists. MIT

Debugging

Because we all have to do it sometimes. Various tools for making debugging easier or better, as well as libraries or code that allows better debugging work.

  • C-Reduce - Tool that takes a large C file with a property of interest and automatically produces a much smaller C file that has the same property. Intended to help create minimal bug-demonstrating cases in complex code. BSD-3-Clause
  • CBMC - C Bounded Model Checker; a tool for verification of array bounds, pointer safety and user-specified assertions. BSD-4-Clause
  • cflow - Analyzes a collection of source files and prints a graph charting control flow in the program. GPL-3.0-or-later
  • Complexity - Tool for measuring the complexity of source code. GPL-3.0-or-later
  • CScout - Source code analyzer and refactoring browser for C programs. GPL-3.0-only
  • DDD - Graphical front-end for a range of command-line debuggers. GPL-3.0-or-later
  • debug - One-header library for easier 'printf debugging'. MIT
  • ESBMC - Efficient SMT-based Bounded Model Checker; a tool for verification of single and multithread programs, user assertions, overflow, and pointer/memory safety. Apache-2.0
  • GDB - GNU Project debugger. GPL-3.0-or-later
  • lldb - LLVM debugger. NCSA
  • rr - Debugger that records non-deterministic executions to allow for deterministic debugging. BSD-2-Clause
  • Valgrind - Range of dynamic analysis tools, including a leak checker. GPL-2.0-only

Documentation Generation

  • Cxref - Generates documentation in either LaTeX, HTML, RTF or SGML. GPL-2.0-only
  • DocOnce - Modestly tagged markup language that can be used to generate a range of formats. BSD-3-Clause
  • Doxygen - De-facto standard tool for generating documentation from annotated sources. Can generate a large range of formats. GPL-2.0-only

Editors

Fancier, IDE-type editors. If you want a programmer's text editor, look elsewhere. Besides, whatever you use most likely supports C anyway.

Embeddable Scripting Engines

When C isn't the right solution, or when you need a more dynamic configration engine:

  • Duktape - Embeddable Javascript engine with a focus on portability and compact footprint MIT.
  • MetaCall - Cross-platform Polyglot Runtime which supports NodeJS, JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, Ruby, C#, Wasm, Java, Cobol and more. Apache-2.0

Frameworks

Big libraries that provide data structures and other stuff you expect of a 'modern' standard library.

  • APR - Apache Portable Runtime; another library of cross-platform utility functions. Apache-2.0
  • C Algorithms - Collection of common algorithms and data structures. ISC
  • CPL - The Common Pipeline Library; a set of libraries designed to be a comprehensive, efficient and robust software toolkit. GPL-2.0-only
  • EFL - Large collection of useful data structures and functions. Various licenses, all open source.
  • klib - Small and lightweight implementations of common algorithms and data structures. MIT
  • libcork - Utility functions and structures, designed for resource-constrained systems. Can be embedded. BSD-3-Clause
  • libnih - Lightweight library of functions and structures. GPL-2.0-only
  • libU - Small library of basic utilities, including memory allocation, string manipulation and logging. BSD-3-Clause
  • PBL - Large library of utilities, featuring data structures, among other things. LGPL-2.1-or-later
  • plibsys - Cross-platform system C library. Zero third-party dependencies, uses only native system calls. MIT
  • qlibc - Simple and powerful library, designed as a replacement for GLib while focusing on being small and light. BSD-2-Clause
  • sc - Common libraries and data structures for C. MIT
  • TBOX - Multi-platform library with a large number of capabilities. Apache-2.0

Game Programming

Engines, libraries and other helpful things specifically for making games.

  • Allegro - Cross-platform, video game development and multimedia library. Zlib
  • AssetKit 🎨 3D asset importer/exporter/util library based on COLLADA/glTF specs MIT
  • astera - C99 Cross Platform 2D Game Library MIT
  • cglm - 📽 Optimized OpenGL/Graphics Math (glm) for C. MIT
  • Chipmunk2D - Fast and lightweight 2D game physics library. MIT
  • cmt - 🎮 C Bindings/Wrappers for Apple's METAL Graphics Framework. MIT
  • Corange - Game engine in pure C. BSD-2-Clause
  • CSFML - Binding for SFMLZlib
  • Darkplaces - Modified version of the Quake2 engine. GPL-2.0-only
  • Epoxy - Library for handling OpenGL function pointer management. MIT
  • Flecs - A Multithreaded Entity Component System written for C89 & C99 MIT
  • Freecell Solver - Set of libraries and command-line programs for automatically solving FreeCell and some similar variants of card Solitaire. MIT
  • FreeGLUT - Alternative to the OpenGL Utility Toolkit. Allows the creation and management of windows with OpenGL contexts. X11
  • GLFW - Multi-platform library for creating windows with OpenGL contexts. Zlib
  • ioquake3 - Quake3 engine, freed at last. GPL-2.0-only
  • kazmath - Maths library for games. BSD-2-Clause
  • libao - Cross-platform audio library with a wide variety of outputs. GPL-2.0-or-later
  • librg - Pure C99 game networking library for building simple and elegant cross-platform multiplayer client-server solutions. Apache-2.0
  • MATHC - Math library for 2D and 3D programming. ZLib
  • Orx - Portable, lightweight, plugin-based, data-driven, 2D-oriented game engine. Zlib
  • Quake - Quake engine. GPL-2.0-only
  • Quake2 - Quake2 engine. GPL-2.0-only
  • raylib - Simple and easy-to-use library to learn video game programming. Zlib
  • RetroArch - Reference frontend for libretroGPL-3.0-only
  • SDL2 - Cross-platform library designed to provide low-level access to audio, keyboard, mouse, joystick and graphics hardware via OpenGL. Zlib
  • sdl-gpu - Library for high-performance, modern 2D graphics. Based on SDL. MIT
  • SIGIL - Sound, Input and Graphics Integration Library; a simple alternative to other libraries for doing all those things. Various licenses, all open source.
  • uastar - Minimal A* implementation. ZLib

Graphics

Programmatic manipulation of graphics in C; if you want to make a GUI, the Graphical User Interface section has what you need.

  • AssetKit 🎨 3D asset importer/exporter/util library based on COLLADA/glTF specs MIT
  • Cairo - 2D graphics library. LGPL-2.1-only or MPL-1.1.
  • cmt - 🎮 C Bindings/Wrappers for Apple's METAL Graphics Framework. MIT
  • giflib - Library for reading and writing gif images. MIT
  • graphene - Thin layer of graphical data types. MIT
  • heman - Tiny library of image utilities dealing with height maps, normal maps, distance fields and the like. MIT
  • libcaca - ASCII renderer for terminal-based interfaces. WTFPL
  • libgd - Library for the dynamic creation of images by programmers. MIT
  • libimagequant - Small, portable library for high-quality conversion of RGBA images to 8-bit indexed colour images. GPL-3.0-or-later
  • libjpeg-turbo - Faster library for reading and writing JPEG files. Various licences.
  • libpng - Official PNG reference library. Libpng
  • libRSVG - Library to render SVG files using Cairo. LGPL-2.1-or-later
  • libsixel - Library implementing the SIXEL protocol, allowing beautiful graphics in your terminal. MIT
  • libspng - A simpler interface for reading and writing PNG files. BSD-2-Clause
  • libvips - Image processing library. LGPL-2.1-or-later
  • libxmi - Function library for rasterizing 2D vector graphics. GPL-3.0-or-later
  • lightmapper - Single-file library for lightmap baking, using an existing OpenGL renderer. Public domain.
  • little CMS - A Color Management System. It provides fast transforms between ICC profiles. MIT
  • mozjpeg - Improved JPEG encoder. BSD-3-Clause
  • nanovg - Anti-aliased 2D vector drawing library on top of OpenGL, for UI and visualizations. Zlib
  • OpenGL - Industry standard for high-performance graphics, with a native C binding. Various licenses.
  • PlutoVG - A standalone 2D vector graphics library in C MIT
  • SAIL -  The missing small and fast image decoding library for humans (not for machines) MIT

Graphical User Interface

Widget toolkits, or things meant to be used in a similar way to them.

  • GTK+ - Cross-platform widget toolkit. LGPL-2.1-only
  • IUP - Another cross-platform widget toolkit. MIT
  • nuklear - Small, C89, single-header widget toolkit. Public domain.
  • tinyfiledialogs - Single-file library for simple dialogs. Compatible with many other toolkits and OSes. Zlib
  • Tk - Basic widget toolkit. Part of Tcl/Tk. TCL
  • XForms Toolkit - Widget toolkit designed for the XWindow system. LGPL-2.1-only
  • littlevGL - embedded GUI with easy-to-use graphical elements and low memory footprint. MIT

Hashing

Hash function implementations for non-crypto purposes. Cryptographic hashes can be found in the Crypto section.

  • CLHash - Library implementing the ridiculously fast CLHash hashing function. Only works on Intel Haswell or newer. Apache-2.0
  • HighwayHash - Fast, strong, SIMD-using hash function. Also contains an implementation of SipHash (although this is slower). Apache-2.0
  • SpookyHash - Extremely fast hash function. BSD-3-Clause
  • t1ha - Fast Positive Hash - a portable, fast hash function. BSD-3-Clause
  • xxHash - Extremely fast hashing algorithm. Comes in 32 and 64-bit varieties. BSD-2-Clause

Learning, Reference and Tutorials

Resources for learning C programming in general, or something useful relating to C programming.

Reference resources online

Beginner resources online

Intermediate resources online

Advanced resources online

Online self-study courses

Reference books

Beginner books

Intermediate books

Advanced books

Lexing and Parsing

Libraries specifically for lexical analysis (or lexing) and syntactic analysis (or parsing).

  • flex - Fast lexical analyzer generator. BSD-2-Clause
  • GNU Bison - General-purpose parser generator that converts an annotated context-free grammar into a range of parsers. GPL-3.0-or-later
  • hammer - Parser combinators for binary formats. GPL-2.0-only
  • mpc - Parser combinator library. BSD-2-Clause
  • owl - A parser generator for visibly pushdown languages. MIT
  • re2c - Lexer generator, producing fast lexers, with access to its internals. Public domain.

Memory Management

Whether a different, faster malloc or outright garbage collection, anything to do with managing C memory lives here.

Multimedia

Networking and Internet

Low-level networking and internet-related stuff. If you want something more comprehensive and high-level, you may want the Web Frameworks section.

  • asnlc - Compiler of ASN.1 specifications into C source code. BSD-2-Clause
  • CHL - C Hypertext Library - A library for writing web applications in C. GPL-3.0-only
  • czmq - High-level binding for ZeroMQ. MPL-2.0
  • Dyad.c - Lightweight, easy, asynchronous networking library. MIT
  • GNU adns - Advanced, easy-to-use, asynch-capable DNS client library and utilities. GPL-3.0-or-later
  • gumbo-parser - HTML5 parsing library in C99. Apache-2.0
  • H20 - A new-generation HTTP server. MIT
  • http-parser - HTTP request/response parser. MIT
  • ldns - Library to simplify DNS programming. BSD-3-Clause
  • libcurl - Client-side URL transfer library, supporting a wide range of formats. curl
  • LibEtPan - Mail library providing an efficient network for IMAP, SMTP, POP and NNTP. BSD-3-Clause
  • libev - Yet another event loop. BSD-2-Clause
  • libevent - Event loop replacement for network servers. BSD-3-Clause
  • libhttpd - Library to add basic web server capabilities to an application or embedded device. GPL-2.0-only
  • libhv - Cross platform event loop library. BSD-3-Clause
  • libidn - Implementation of the Stringprep, Punycode and IDNA specifications. GPL-3.0-or-later
  • libmicrohttpd - Small library that makes it easy to run an HTTP server as part of another application. LGPL-2.1-or-later
  • libnl - libnl is a collection of libraries to provie APIs to the Netlink protocol (replacement for ioctl). It's primary use is to communicate with the Linux kernel, to modify networking state (interfaces, routing etc...). LGPL-2.1-only
  • libonion - HTTP server library, designed to be easy to use. Apache-2.0
  • libpcap - API provides to various kernel packet capture mechanism. BSD-3-Clause
  • libquickmail - Library intended to give developers a way to send email from their applications. Supports multiple To/Cc/Bcc recipients and attachments without size limits. GPL-3.0-or-later
  • libsagui - Library for cross-platform HTTP servers. LGPL-3.0-or-later
  • libuhttpd - A very flexible, lightweight and fully asynchronous HTTP server library based on libev and http-parser for Embedded Linux. MIT
  • LibVNCServer - Cross-platform libraries to implement VNC server and/or client functionality. GPL-2.0-or-later
  • libwebsock - Easy-to-use and powerful web socket library. LGPL-3.0-only
  • libzmq - Core ZeroMQ library, a high-performance asynchronous messaging library, aimed at use in distributed or concurrent applications. C API (backend C++) GPL-3.0-or-later with static linking exception
  • lwan - Experimental, scalable, high-performance HTTP server. GPL-2.0-only
  • mongoose - Embedded web server. GPL-2.0-only
  • MQTT-C - A portable MQTT C client for embedded systems and PCs alike. MIT
  • nanomsg - C-based implementation of ZeroMQ. MIT
  • NNG - nanomsg-next-generation - lightweight brokerless messaging. MIT
  • oSip - SIP implementation without additional dependencies. LGPL-2.1-or-later
  • silgy - Asynchronous HTTP(S) engine for C/C++ projects. MIT
  • socket99 - C99 wrapper for the BSD sockets API. ISC
  • twitc - Mini library for interacting with the Twitter OAuth API. MIT
  • uriparser - Strictly RFC 3986-compliant URI parsing and handling library. BSD-3-Clause
  • Wslay - WebSocket library. Implements version 13 of the WebSocket protocol, as described in RFC 6455. MIT
  • zyre - Framework for proximity-based peer-to-peer applications. MPL-2.0

Numerical

  • apophenia - Library for statistical and scientific computing. GPL-2.0-only
  • Arb - Library for arbitrary-precision interval arithmetic. LGPL-2.1-or-later
  • ATLAS - Automatically Tuned Linear Algebra Software. BSD-3-Clause
  • clBLAS - BLAS functions written in OpenCL. Apache-2.0
  • cmathl - Math library with a great variety of mathematical functions with CMake build support. Seeks to be close to C89/C90 compliant for portability. MIT
  • Cuba - Library for multidimensional numerical integration. LGPL-3.0-only
  • fft-c - A high-performance Fourier Transform from netlib's fftpack; wrapped in a user-friendly format MIT
  • FFTW - The Fastest Fourier Transform in the West; a highly optimized fast Fourier transform routine. GPL-2.0-or-later
  • FLINT - Fast Library for Number Theory; a library supporting arithmetic with numbers, polynomials, power series and matrices, among others. GPL-2.0-or-later
  • GLPK - GNU Linear Programming Kit; a package designed for solving large-scale linear programming, mixed integer programming and other related problems. GPL-3.0-or-later
  • GMP - GNU Multple Precision Arithmetic Library; a library for arbitrary-precision arithmetic. GPL-2.0-only or LGPL-3.0-only
  • GNU MPC - Library for complex number arithmetic. LGPL-3.0-or-later
  • GNU MPFR - Library for arbitrary-precision floating-point arithmetic. LGPL-3.0-or-later
  • GNU MPRIA - Portable mathematics library for multi-precision rational interval arithmetic. GPL-3.0-or-later
  • GSL - The GNU Scientific Library; a sophisticated numerical library. GPL-3.0-only.
  • KISS FFT - Simple fast Fourier transform library. BSD-3-Clause
  • LAPACKE - Interface to LAPACKBSD-3-Clause
  • LibTomMath - Portable, number-theoretic, multiple-precision integer library. Supports algebra, digit manipulation, modular reductions, and various number-theoretic routines. Public domain.
  • LibTomPoly - Polynomial-related maths library. Public domain.
  • PARI/GP - Computer algebra system for number theory; includes a compiler to C. GPL-2.0-or-later
  • PETSc - Suite of data structures and routines for scalable parallel solution of scientific applications modelled by partial differential equations. BSD-2-Clause
  • SCS - Splitting Conic Solver; a numerical optimization package for solving large-scale convex cone problems. MIT
  • SLEPc - Library for the solution of large, sparse eigenvalue problems on parallel computers. LGPL-3.0-only
  • TomsFastMath - Set of optimized maths operations (in assembly), suitable for cryptographic use. Public domain.
  • Yeppp! - Fast, SIMD-optimized mathematical library. BSD-3-Clause

Profiling

Regex

  • Onigmo - Fork of Oniguruma, supporting more advanced regexps. BSD-2-Clause
  • Oniguruma - Regex library supporting a wide range of encodings, and incorporating many security-oriented fixes. BSD-2-Clause
  • PCRE - Implementation of regexes identical to that of Perl 5. BSD-3-Clause
  • SLRE - Super Light Regular Expression library; a small implementation of a subset of Perl regex syntax. GPL-2.0-only
  • TRE - POSIX-compliant, feature-full regex library. BSD-2-Clause

Serialization

  • binn - Binary serialization format, meant to be compact, fast and easy-to-use. Apache-2.0
  • c-capnproto - Implementation of the Cap'n Proto serialization protocol. MIT
  • cmp - Implementation of the MessagePack serialization protocol. MIT
  • flatcc - FlatBuffers compiler and library. Apache-2.0
  • libavro - Implementation of the Avro data serialization system. Apache-2.0
  • mpack - Another implementation of the MessagePack serialization protocol. MIT
  • OPIC - Object Persistence in C; a revolutionary serialization framework, with matching on-disk and in-memory representations. GPL-3.0-or-later
  • protobuf-c - Implementation of Google Protocol Buffer. BSD-2-Clause
  • tpl - Small binary serialization library. MIT
  • xdr - External Data Representation; a standard for data serialization. Standard (no license applicable).
  • pbtools - Google Protocol Buffers C source code generator. MIT

Source Code Collections

Collections of small source code. If you want something big and integrated, check the Frameworks section.

  • CCAN - Modelled after Perl's CPAN, this is a big collection of code that does stuff. The full list is here. Various licenses, all open source.
  • clib - Something of a package manager. Comes with a bunch of libraries of its ownMIT
  • gnulib - Collection of common GNU code. Various licenses, all open source.
  • libdjb - Collection of libraries doing various things. (Apparently) public domain.
  • mmx - Collection of single-header libraries. Various licenses, all open source.
  • par - Bunch of single-file libraries. MIT
  • Snippets - Useful code snippets and header-only libraries. Public domain.
  • stb - Range of single-file libraries. Public domain.
  • tinyheaders - Collection of header-only libraries, primarily oriented toward game development. Zlib
  • zpl - C99 cross-platform header-only library with many goodies. [BSD-3-ClauseUnlicense][BSD-3-Clause, Unlicense]

Standard Libraries

Implementations of the (standard-mandated) C standard library.

String Manipulation

Structured File Processing

This includes libraries for things like XML, JSON, CSV, and other similar formats.

CSV

JSON

INI

Others

  • libbson - BSON utility library. Apache-2.0
  • libcbor: CBOR protocol implementation for C and others. MIT
  • libconfuse - Small configuration file parser library. ISC
  • libelf - Simple library for parsing ELF files. MIT
  • libucl - Universal configuration library parser. BSD-2-Clause
  • libxo - Allows an application to generate plain text, XML, JSON and HTML output using a common set of function calls. The application decides at runtime what output style should be produced. BSD-2-Clause

XML

  • Expat - Stream-oriented XML parser. MIT
  • libxml2 - Standards-compliant, portable XML parser. MIT
  • xml - Simple, low-memory-use XML parser / tokenizer. MIT

YAML

Signal Processing

  • libsigrok - signal analysis software suite that supports various device types (such as logic analyzers, oscilloscopes, multimeters, and more). [GPL][GPL]

Testing

Text Editor Extensions

While practically any decent programmer's text editor supports C, there are some extensions that make it more pleasant. These are labelled by editor.

Tools

Useful programs to help you write and debug C code which are not editors, libraries or compilers.

  • Artistic Style - Fast and small automatic source code formatter that supports C. LGPL-3.0-only
  • address-sanitizer - Fast memory error detector. Apache-2.0
  • c - Compile and execute C "scripts" in one go on the command line. Also has shebang support. MIT
  • c99sh - Run C files using hash-bang. BSD-2-Clause
  • cdecl - Online service to translate C declarations into English and vice versa. Public domain.
  • cinclude2dot - Graphs include dependencies in a project using Graphviz. GPL-1.0-or-later or GPL-2.0-or-later or GPL-3.0-or-later
  • ClangCheck - Static analysis tool, designed to work with Clang. NCSA
  • conan.io - Something of a package manager for C. MIT.
  • Cppcheck - Static analysis tool. Despite the name, works well with C. GPL-3.0-or-later
  • Glade - RAD tool to enable quick development of GTK+ GUIs. GPL-2.0-only
  • GMSL - GNU Make Standard Library; a collection of additional functionality for GNU Make. BSD-3-Clause
  • GNU Global - Source code tagging tool. GPL-3.0-only
  • GPP - General-purpose preprocessor. More versatile than the C preprocessor, but more flexible than m4. LGPL-3.0-or-later
  • Highlight - Converts source code to formatted text with nice highlighting. GPL-3.0-only
  • include-what-you-use - Helps find unecessary inclusions and make suggestions for fixing them. Based on LLVM/Clang (and only works with it). NCSA
  • [incbin][] - Include binary files in your C/C++ applications with ease [Unlicense License][Unlicense License]
  • indent - Formats C source code automatically to make it easier to read. Also converts from one style of source to another. GPL-3.0-or-later
  • SMACK - Modular software verification toolchain and a self-contained software verifier. Currently only works with programs compiled using Clang. MIT
  • unifdef - Removes #ifdef and #if directives with their delimited text without touching any other part of the file. BSD-3-Clause or BSD-2-Clause

Utilities

A 'catch-all' category for anything that doesn't fit well anywhere else.

Web Frameworks

Comprehensive and integrated solutions for building the next brilliant web application in C.

  • facil.io - Mini-framework for web applications. Includes a fast HTTP and Websocket server, and also supports custom protocols. MIT
  • kcgi - CGI and FastCGI library for C ISC.
  • KLone - Fully featured, multi-platform, web application development framework, targeted especially at embedded systems and appliances. BSD-3-Clause
  • Kore - Easy-to-use web application framework for writing scalable web APIs in C. ISC

Windows Environments

Technologies designed to bring Windows into the 21st century with respect to support for C.

  • Cygwin - Designed to emulate a POSIX-compatible environment extensively under Windows. Various licenses, all open source.
  • MinGW-w64 - Minimalist environment for C development on Windows with 64 bit support. Various licenses, all open source.
  • MSYS2 - Minimal SYStem 2; aims to provide support for a POSIX environment on Windows, with a package manager based on Arch Linux's pacman. Packages have individual licenses, otherwise, as MinGW and Cygwin.

from https://github.com/oz123/awesome-c