By the Ccide - - A Decision Table Code Generator

The Ccide Project is pleased to present Ccide, an open-source, C language, decision table code generator.

Files to Download:

See the SourceForge CCIDE Project Pagefor file downloads.

Demo:

Click here to run an on-line demo.

Documentation:

Please note: these documents may reflect changes not yet included in the latest release. On the other hand, the documents here may be out of date. In other words, if you want to see the right stuff, download the latest files.

A Real Ccide Decision Table Generator Example

The Ccide Man Page.

A dependency graph of the Ccide decision table parser.

The Ccide Change Log.

Other Sites:

FAQs:

Q1.This web page needs improving -- what can I do to help?
Q2.I know just how to improve Ccide -- what can I do to help?
Q3.What use is Ccide, anyway?
Q4.Why do you say that Ccide does not always generate the most efficient code possible?
Q5.Why isn't it more efficient?
Q6.What is the state machine case?
Q7.Can I see an example?
Q9.What happened to DTC?
Q10.Is there a Windows version?

A1.Send HTML -- please. If you wish to contribute, please include your name and contact information you wish to have appear in the list of contributors. Please be certain that your contribution is your own, original work. If you are aware of some other work that might be useful, please make the responsible person aware of the CCIDE Project.
A2.Send code -- please. Actually, you might want to e-mail ccide@twyoung.com, first -- just to be sure no one else is working on the same enhancement.
Please note: work has begun on optimizing the sequence of the generated 'case' statements.
A3.Ccide makes it easier to read your code. This helps when building a new program and also when making changes to old programs. It also reduces the amount of typing required. All this, should reduce logic errors in released programs. It should also encourage you to address more complex logic than you might otherwise attempt.
A4.Actually, it does in some special cases. Usually, however, all the conditional expressions are evaluated whether or not they are required by the logic. Also, a ...FindRule function is used to determine which rule is in effect. Another approach might avoid this, but it also might generate multiple copies of the expressions. There are tradeoffs between approaches, which might call for a user option to select the approach appropriate for his situation.
A5.Ccide is intended to generate code free of erratic side effects. Ccide avoids erratic effects by evaluating all conditions just once, and in the original sequence. It also generates actions in the original sequence. In cases where side effects are not an issue, another, more efficient strategy can be adopted and is being considered.
One such case is the state machine case.

A6.A state machine can be represented by a simple decision table, like this:

        //DECISION_TABLE:
        // 0 1 2 3 4  |group[state][event] == $$
        //-----------------------------------------
        // x x x x x  |if(DEBUGGING) printf("%i,%i", state,event);
        // 0 1 2 3 4  |PerformActionFor$$();
        // x x x x -  |event = GetEvent();
        // x x x x -  |state = nextstate[state][event];
        // x x x x -  |NEWGROUP
        //END_TABLE:

in which there is a single condition statement with all-integer condition entries. In the example, Ccide will use switch(Bigstate[state][event]) ... logic, rather than a ...FindRule.. function. 4 is the final state in this example.

A7. Sure, click here for a real example, or see the state machine example above, or Download the source for more examples.
A9.The project name was changed from DTC to Ccide in August, 2004, when Ccide was moved to SourceForge. DTC is an existing SourceForge project and is also heavily trademarked in the US. DTC could be considered to be infringing on these marks. Ccide is not so trademarked and the domain name CCIDE.COM was registered to establish a record of use of this mark. Please e-mail twysf@twyoung.com if you would like to contribute to the trademark registration fee.

A10. Yes. Ccide has been tested successfully on Windows98. Other Windows platforms are currently being tested. Download the .zip file and let me know how it goes.

The CCIDE project is hosted at