END_OF_MAIN(3)

💖 END_OF_MAIN 💖

ok so this is a page from the Allegro manual — the Allegro game programming library manual, section 3 — and it's all about one tiny lil macro called END_OF_MAIN. she's small but she's doing the MOST. 🎀

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✨ NAME ✨

END_OF_MAIN — the macro you put right after your main() function, bestie. literally that's her whole job. Allegro game programming library core. 👑

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

#include <allegro.h>

Macro END_OF_MAIN()

that's it. that's the whole thing. no args, no nothing. she just exists at the end of your file. 💅

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

ok so here's the tea, and it's actually important so listen up 🫶

to keep everything cross-platform compatible, you have to put this macro at the very end of your main function. like, the actual end. not in the middle, not before your closing brace situation — the end end.

the way this works is she uses some 'magic' ✨ to mangle your main procedure on the platforms that need it, like:

• Windows
• some flavours of UNIX
• MacOS X

basically the platforms that are picky about this stuff. 💀

and here's the slay part: on the other platforms — the chill ones — this macro compiles to nothing. literally nothing. zero. so you do not have to #ifdef around it, and honestly thank god, because nobody wants to be writing preprocessor guards around a single macro at 3am. 🙈

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🌈 Example 🌈

int main(void)
{
   allegro_init();
   /* more stuff goes here */
   ...
   return 0;
}
END_OF_MAIN()

see how she's sitting outside the closing brace? yeah. that's the vibe. main character energy fr fr. 🔥

⚠️ ngl bestie if you forget her, the platforms that need the mangling are gonna be so dramatic about it. just always drop END_OF_MAIN() after your main and you're golden. 💖

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💜 SEE ALSO 💜

• Allegro — the whole library, the moment, the icon 👑

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and that's the page!! short, sweet, absolutely iconic, no notes. 🍓

this was Allegro, version 4.4.3, serving END_OF_MAIN(3) realness, and that's the sign-off bestie — go put that macro at the end of your main and slay 💅✨🧚