This project has been created as part of the 42 curriculum by ocouto-d.

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| DESCRIPTION: |

The ft_printf is a project at 42 School whose main objective is to replicate the functionality of the standard C library function, printf().

Print ARGUMENT(s) according to FORMAT:

%d: Format as a signed decimal integer.

%u: Format as an unsigned decimal integer.

%i: Prints an integer in base 10.

%s: Format as a null-terminated string.

%c: Format as a character.

%x: Format as a hexadecimal number, lowercase.

%X: Format as a hexadecimal number, uppercase.

%p: The void * pointer argument has to be printed in hexadecimal format

%%: Prints a percent sign.

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| INSTRUCTIONS: |

1. To compile the project, execute the make command in the root directory:

   This will create the static library libftprintf.a.

2. To use ft_printf in your own code, you must:

   Include the header file (ft_printf.h).

   Link with the static library during compilation.

3. To compile a main.c file that uses ft_printf:

   gcc main.c libftprintf.a -o my_program

CODE EXAMPLE:

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#include "ft_printf.h"

int main(void) { int printed_chars; char *name = "42 School";

// Using %s, %d, and %p
printed_chars = ft_printf("Hello, %s! The number is %d. Pointer: %p\n", name, 2024, &printed_chars);

// Printing the returned value
ft_printf("Total characters printed: %d\n", printed_chars);

return (0);

}

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| RESOURCES: |

• https://vivaolinux.com.br/artigo/Linguagem-C-Funcoes-Variadicas/
• https://stackoverflow.com/questions/26053959/what-does-va-args-in-a-macro-mean
• https://en.cppreference.com/w/c/variadic/va_arg
• https://www.tutorialspoint.com/c_standard_library/c_macro_va_arg.htm

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| EXPLANATION: |

1. Main algorithm: Sequential Processing (Parsing)

   The core algorithm of ft_printf is a Stateful Sequential Parsing process, executed as follows:

   1.1 - Iteration: The function traverses the format string character by character.

   1.2 - Standard State (Literal): If the character is not a %, it is treated as a literal character and is immediately printed to standard output.

   1.3 - State Transition (Identifying the %): Upon encountering a %, the algorithm enters the Format Analysis State.

   1.4 - Dispatching: The character immediately subsequent to the % (the conversion specifier) is read. This specifier is used as a key for a dispatch mechanism.

   1.5 - Converter Execution: The dispatch mechanism (typically a nested if/else if structure or a switch case) calls the specific auxiliary function responsible for handling the associated data type (%d calls the integer function, %s calls the string function, etc.).

   1.6 - Return and Counting: The auxiliary function executes the va_arg, conversion, and printing operations, returning the number of characters it printed. This value is added to ft_printf's total character counter.

2. Primary Data Structure: Variable Argument List (va_list)

   The fundamental data structure used to manage the arguments is the va_list, defined in the <stdarg.h> library.