TABLE OF CONTENTS Recall that the C language defines only a small number of operations, and that many of the basic operations needed for implementing application programs are made available through libraries. For this reason, C and Fortran libraries are another important resource for the application programmer. For instance, Fortran is known for its robust mathematical libraries, which are used in scientific applications that require extensive numerical computations.
In this chapter, we introduce the libraries provided with the C/C++ compiler, some of the commonly used library functions, how to apply them in an application, and how performance may be improved by using special libraries that are optimized for the Itanium processor.
A library provides ready-made software functions that programmers can simply plug into their application. By providing software building blocks as part of a library, programmers need not create them on their own, and are freed to focus all of their energy on implementing algorithms unique to their application. For example, libraries contain functions that perform software operations such as input/output, calculation of mathematical functions, allocation of memory, string and character processing, and creation of data structures.
There are many types of libraries available to the programmer. Libraries are provided with the compiler and by independent software vendors (ISVs), or may be written by the user. Examples of libraries that are supplied along with the compiler are Standard C Libraries, such as libc.lib and libm.lib. In fact, the ANSI Standard requires that certain standard library files be provided in...
