Architectural pattern for testable C code [closed]

Question

Closed. This question needs to be more focused. It is not currently accepting answers.

---

Want to improve this question? Update the question so it focuses on one problem only by editing this post.

Closed last year.

Improve this question

I wrote a lot of software in C# and Python. I tried to make the overall architecture testable by using the "Clean Architecture" and Dependency Injection. This works well for C# (and python).

Now I move to a new company where I will program C (it will be a new codebase). Some years ago I already wrote much C, but without a strong focus on testing. This time I like to create a clean and testable architecture which allows to test anything.

Does a best pratice like the "Clean Architecture", "Onion Architecture" or some other architectural pattern exist that leads to well testable C code? (of course, given the code is well written)

Answer 1

The nice thing about architectural patterns is that they are largely language independent. Some languages may have better or worse support for the basic constructs that a particular pattern is built upon.

Many architectural patterns are built upon Object Oriented concepts. C does not have built-in OO features, but you can actually implement OO designs in C.

The standard techniques for testing code in C are

• Swap out production code for stubs/mocks/fakes at the file level by linking a different file into the test executable
• Use preprocessor macros to disable functionality not wanted during testing
• Write OO-style code and use DI