# writing c with indent-based syntax similar to coffeescript or python

part of [c programming](/computer/guides/c.html)

by combining [wisp](https://www.draketo.de/software/wisp) syntax with [sc](https://github.com/sph-mn/sph-sc#installation), which only depends on [guile](https://www.gnu.org/software/guile/), it is possible to write c with indent semantics, and fewer brackets, similar to [coffeescript](https://coffeescript.org/) or python.

sc is a scheme-like notation for c. it can be used on its own to write c.

wisp, whitespace to lisp, is a notation for scheme expressions that allows indentation in-place of round brackets.

# how it looks
~~~
pre-include "stdio.h"

define (main argc argv) : int int char**
  declare i int
  printf "the number of program arguments passed is %d\n" argc
  for : (set i 0) (< i argc) (set+ i 1)
    printf "argument %d is %s\n" (+ i 1) (array-get argv i)
  return 0
~~~

# what you need
* [gnu guile](https://www.gnu.org/software/guile/), which is usually available in package repositories or already installed
* [sc](https://github.com/sph-mn/sph-sc#installation)

# usage examples
given a file with contents in wisp syntax with sc semantics, the following shell examples demonstrate usage via standard standard input/output.

display c code
~~~
sc myfile.scw
~~~

write to file
~~~
sc myfile.scw > output.c
~~~

display formatted c using clang-format
~~~
sc myfile.scw | clang-format
~~~

# motivation
as the author of sc, i use sc in several c projects and found that with the imperative style of c, most lines tend to be simple operations, in what is like a column of commands. translated to scheme-like syntax, many lines start with a round bracket and have a nesting scope that ends on the same line, which can appear syntactically noisy.

# interesting links
* [nobraces](https://blog.brush.co.nz/2007/09/nobraces/) had a similar idea