Using CINT (ROOT) as a REPL for C

  The first language I formally learned was Python and the REPL was invaluable for running quick snippets of code to get a handle on syntax and the behavior of built-in functions. I'm now taking the 2014 offering of CS50x from edX/HarvardX and one of the languages that is introduced is C.

Aside from the syntactical differences with Python, I've found it difficult to get used to the lack of a C REPL. Even running a simple 'hello world' snippet of code requires me to compile (in the course we use the clang compiler) the source file and run the output binary.

However, I recently learned that CERN has a numerical analysis package called ROOT which they use in physics research. The neat thing about this package is that it contains a built-in C/C++ interpreter that works like a REPL. From within ROOT, I can evaluate expressions like 2+2 or printf() statements without compiling:

[archjun@arch ~]$ root

  *******************************************

  *                                         *

  *        W E L C O M E  to  R O O T       *

  *                                         *

  *   Version   5.34/15  11 February 2014   *

  *                                         *

  *  You are welcome to visit our Web site  *

  *          http://root.cern.ch            *

  *                                         *

  *******************************************

ROOT 5.34/15 (v5-34-15@v5-34-15, Feb 11 2014, 18:58:45 on linuxx8664gcc)

CINT/ROOT C/C++ Interpreter version 5.18.00, July 2, 2010

Type ? for help. Commands must be C++ statements.

Enclose multiple statements between { }.

root [0] 2 + 2

(const int)4

root [1] printf("Hello\n");

Hello

root [2] 

The ROOT REPL kind of reminds me of ipython's interface. One downside of ROOT is the large size of the package -- well over 100MB -- that includes lots of analysis libraries that a beginner in C has no use for.