--- a/docs/Writerside/topics/linked_list.h.md Mon Mar 10 11:54:46 2025 +0100
+++ b/docs/Writerside/topics/linked_list.h.md Mon Mar 10 17:03:26 2025 +0100
@@ -1,58 +1,264 @@
# Linked List
-<warning>
-Outdated Section - will be updated soon!
-</warning>
-
On top of implementing the list interface, this header also defines several low-level functions that
work with arbitrary structures.
-Low-level functions, in contrast to the high-level list interface, can easily be recognized by their snake-casing.
-The function `cx_linked_list_at`, for example, implements a similar functionality like `cxListAt`, but operates
-on arbitrary structures.
-The following snippet shows how it is used.
-All other low-level functions work similarly.
-```c
+
+The high level [list interface](list.h.md) is documented on a separate page and explains how lists are used
+which are created by one of the following functions.
+
+```C
+#include <cx/linked_list.h>
+
+CxList *cxLinkedListCreate(const CxAllocator *allocator,
+ cx_compare_func comparator, size_t elem_size);
+
+CxList *cxLinkedListCreateSimple(size_t elem_size);
+```
+
+The remaining content of this page concentrates on the low-level functions.
+
+## Basic Structure
+
+All functions described on this page work with nodes that have the following structure.
+```C
struct node {
node *next;
- node *prev;
- int data;
+ node *prev; // optional
+ // ... the element data goes here ...
};
+```
+
+Each node must have at least one pointer that contains the address of the subsequent node.
+Optionally, for doubly-linked lists, there may be a second pointer that points to the predecessor.
+
+The functions usually expect a `loc_prev` and a `loc_next` offset.
+In the example structure from above you can obtain them with `offsetof(struct node, next)` and `offsetof(struct node, prev)`.
+In all functions, `loc_prev` is optional in the sense, that when you do not have a `prev` pointer, you can specify a negative value.
+When a function expects a `loc_advance` offset, you can freely choose if you want to pass the offset of the `next` or the `prev` pointer,
+depending on what you want to do.
+
+If a function expects a `void** begin` and a `void** end` pointer, they are usually both optional, unless otherwise specified.
+If non-`NULL`, they point to the variables where the addresses of the first, or the last, node of a list are stored, respectively.
+When a list operation results in a new first (or last) node, the addresses are overwritten.
+In simple scenarios, you usually keep a pointer to the beginning of a list, and hence you would usually pass `NULL` to the `end` argument.
+If you are designing a stack-like linked-list, it may happen that you only want to store the last node of a list (the top of stack),
+hence passing `NULL` to the `begin` argument and the address of your top-of-stack pointer to the `end` argument.
+Either way, most functions allow you a big deal of flexibility - please still read the documentation of each function carefully to learn which combinations are allowed.
+
+When you are working with a singly-linked list, it is still sometimes necessary to access the predecessor of a node.
+In the absence of a `prev` pointer, the only chance is to start at the beginning of the list and search for that node.
+This is exactly what `cx_linked_list_prev()` does.
+```C
+#include <cx/linked_list.h>
+
+void *cx_linked_list_prev(const void *begin,
+ ptrdiff_t loc_next, const void *node);
+```
+
+Starting with the `begin` node, the function checks if the next node is exactly the `node` (by pointer-comparison).
+If true, the function terminates and returns the current node.
+Otherwise, it moves on with the search.
+If `begin` is already the searched `node`, this function immediately returns `NULL` as there is no predecessor.
+Note carefully, that the behavior of this function is not defined when `node` is not contained in the list that starts with `begin`.
+
+> It is advisable to use the low-level functions inside own custom functions that you define particularly for your lists.
+> Otherwise you will get a lot of boilerplate code when specifying the offsets to the pointers in your node structure in every call
+> across your entire program.
+
+## Link and Unlink
-const ptrdiff_t loc_prev = offsetof(struct node, prev);
-const ptrdiff_t loc_next = offsetof(struct node, next);
-const ptrdiff_t loc_data = offsetof(struct node, data);
+```C
+#include <cx/linked_list.h>
+
+void cx_linked_list_link(void *left, void *right,
+ ptrdiff_t loc_prev, ptrdiff_t loc_next);
+
+void cx_linked_list_unlink(void *left, void *right,
+ ptrdiff_t loc_prev, ptrdiff_t loc_next);
+```
+
+When you have two nodes `left` and `right` you can link or unlink them with the functions shown above.
+
+When linking `left` and `right` you should make sure that `left` as currently no successor and `right` has no predecessor,
+because the pointers will be overwritten without unlinking possible existing links, first.
+
+On the other hand, when unlinking `left` and `right`, they must actually be linked right now.
+This is even asserted in debug builds.
+
+Usually you should not need those functions when working with the [insert](#insert) and [remove](#remove) functions below.
+
+## Insert
-struct node a = {0}, b = {0}, c = {0}, d = {0};
-cx_linked_list_link(&a, &b, loc_prev, loc_next);
-cx_linked_list_link(&b, &c, loc_prev, loc_next);
-cx_linked_list_link(&c, &d, loc_prev, loc_next);
+```C
+#include <cx/linked_list.h>
+
+void cx_linked_list_add(void **begin, void **end,
+ ptrdiff_t loc_prev, ptrdiff_t loc_next,
+ void *new_node);
+
+void cx_linked_list_prepend(void **begin, void **end,
+ ptrdiff_t loc_prev, ptrdiff_t loc_next,
+ void *new_node);
-cx_linked_list_at(&a, 0, loc_next, 2); // returns pointer to c
+void cx_linked_list_insert(void **begin, void **end,
+ ptrdiff_t loc_prev, ptrdiff_t loc_next,
+ void *node, void *new_node);
+
+void cx_linked_list_insert_chain(void **begin, void **end,
+ ptrdiff_t loc_prev, ptrdiff_t loc_next,
+ void *node, void *insert_begin, void *insert_end);
+
+void cx_linked_list_insert_sorted(void **begin, void **end,
+ ptrdiff_t loc_prev, ptrdiff_t loc_next,
+ void *new_node, cx_compare_func cmp_func);
+
+void cx_linked_list_insert_sorted_chain(void **begin, void **end,
+ ptrdiff_t loc_prev, ptrdiff_t loc_next,
+ void *insert_begin, cx_compare_func cmp_func);
```
-<!--
-## Undocumented Symbols (TODO)
-### cx_linked_list_add
-### cx_linked_list_at
-### cx_linked_list_compare
-### cxLinkedListCreate
-### cx_linked_list_find
-### cx_linked_list_find_node
-### cx_linked_list_first
-### cx_linked_list_insert
-### cx_linked_list_insert_chain
-### cx_linked_list_insert_sorted
-### cx_linked_list_insert_sorted_chain
-### cx_linked_list_last
-### cx_linked_list_link
-### cx_linked_list_prepend
-### cx_linked_list_prev
-### cx_linked_list_remove_chain
-### cx_linked_list_reverse
-### cx_linked_list_size
-### cx_linked_list_sort
-### cx_linked_list_unlink
--->
+The above functions can be used to insert one or more elements into a linked list.
+
+The functions `cx_linked_list_add()` and `cx_linked_list_prepend()` add the `new_node` to the beginning, or the end, of the list, respectively.
+Either `begin` or `end` needs to be non-`NULL`.
+If you pass `NULL` to `end` in `cx_linked_list_add()`, you have to specify `begin` and `loc_next`, instead.
+On the other hand, if you pass `NULL` to `begin` in `cx_linked_list_prepend()`, you have to specify `end` and `loc_prev`, instead.
+
+The function `cx_linked_list_insert()` behaves like `cx_linked_list_insert_chain()` where both
+`insert_begin` and `insert_end` are set to `new_node`.
+
+The function `cx_linked_list_insert_chain()` inserts the chain of nodes starting with `insert_begin` after the node `node`.
+If `insert_end` is `NULL`, the end is automatically detected, in which case `loc_next` must be available.
+If you pass `NULL` to `node`, the entire chain is prepended to the list, in which case either `begin` must be non-`NULL`,
+or `end` must be non-`NULL` and `loc_prev` must be available to determine the start of the list.
+
+The functions `cx_linked_list_insert_sorted()` and `cx_linked_list_insert_sorted_chain()` are equivalent,
+except that `begin` and `loc_next` are always required, and the target list must already be sorted.
+The order is determined by the `cmp_func` to which the pointers to the nodes are passed.
+
+> The `cx_linked_list_insert_sorted_chain()` function does not have an `insert_end` argument, because
+> it cannot take advantage of simply inserting the entire chain as-is, as the chain might need to be broken
+> to maintain the sort order.
+
+## Access and Find
+
+```C
+#include <cx/linked_list.h>
+
+void *cx_linked_list_first(const void *node, ptrdiff_t loc_prev);
+
+void *cx_linked_list_last(const void *node, ptrdiff_t loc_next);
+
+void *cx_linked_list_at(const void *start,
+ size_t start_index, ptrdiff_t loc_advance, size_t index);
+
+void *cx_linked_list_find(const void *start,
+ ptrdiff_t loc_advance, ptrdiff_t loc_data,
+ cx_compare_func cmp_func,
+ const void *elem, size_t *found_index);
+
+size_t cx_linked_list_size(const void *node, ptrdiff_t loc_next);
+```
+
+The functions `cx_linked_list_first()` and `cx_linked_list_last()` can be used to find the first, or last,
+node in your list in case you are not keeping track of them separately.
+They can start at an arbitrary node within the list.
+
+The function `cx_linked_list_at()` starts at an arbitrary node `start` which is _specified_ to have the index `start_index`,
+and finds the node at `index`.
+If `index` is larger than `start_index`, you must pass the offset of the `next` pointer to `loc_advanced`.
+On the other hand, if `index` is smaller than `start_index`, you must pass the offset of the `prev` pointer.
+If both indices match, the function simply returns `start`.
+And if `index` is out-of-bounds, the function returns `NULL`.
+
+The function `cx_linked_list_find()` starts a search at the `start` node and compares each element with `elem`.
+If `loc_data` is non-zero, the data-type of `elem` must be a pointer to data which is compatible to the data located at the specified offset in the node.
+If `loc_data` is zero, `elem` is expected to point to a node structure (which is usually artificially created for the sake of comparison and not contained in the list).
+When the searched element is found, a pointer to the node is returned and the index (assuming `start` has index zero) is written to the optional `found_index`, if non-`NULL`.
+
+The size of a list, or sub-list, can be determined with `cx_linked_list_size()` which may start at an arbitrary `node´ in the list.
+
+> A creative way of using `cx_linked_list_size()` in doubly-linked lists is to use the offset of the `prev` pointer
+> for `loc_next`, in which case the function will return the index of the node within the list plus one.
+
+## Remove
+
+```C
+#include <cx/linked_list.h>
+
+void cx_linked_list_remove(void **begin, void **end,
+ ptrdiff_t loc_prev, ptrdiff_t loc_next, void *node);
+
+size_t cx_linked_list_remove_chain(void **begin, void **end,
+ ptrdiff_t loc_prev, ptrdiff_t loc_next,
+ void *node, size_t num);
+```
+
+You can either remove a single element or a specified number of subsequent elements from list.
+
+The function `cx_linked_list_remove()` is equivalent to `cx_linked_list_remove_chain()` where `num` is set to one.
+
+The function `cx_linked_list_remove_chain()` removes up to `num` number of nodes from the list where `node` is contained, including `node` itself.
+It returns the actual number of removed elements, which might be smaller when the list does not contain at least `num` elements.
+
+The `prev` and `next` pointers of _all_ removed nodes are kept completely intact, allowing traversal within the removed chain,
+as well as identifying the formerly adjacent nodes with the list from which the chain was removed.
+
+> Both `begin` and `end` pointers are optional, if you specify both `loc_prev` and `loc_next`.
+> In case your list does not have a `prev` pointer, specifying `begin` is mandatory (because there would be no other way to determine the predecessor of `node`).
+>{style="note"}
+
+> While specifying _only_ `loc_prev` and `end` is technically illegal, you can simply swap roles
+> and use the offset of your `prev` pointer as `loc_next` and the address of your `end` pointer as `begin`.
+> The list is then traversed backwards, but otherwise everything works as expected.
+
+## Reorder
+
+```C
+#include <cx/linked_list.h>
+
+void cx_linked_list_reverse(void **begin, void **end,
+ ptrdiff_t loc_prev, ptrdiff_t loc_next);
+
+void cx_linked_list_sort(void **begin, void **end,
+ ptrdiff_t loc_prev, ptrdiff_t loc_next,
+ ptrdiff_t loc_data, cx_compare_func cmp_func);
+```
+
+The function `cx_linked_list_reverse()` swaps all links of all nodes in the specified list, effectively reversing the order of elements.
+
+The function `cx_linked_list_sort()` uses a recursive _natural mergesort_ implementation to sort the list with respect to the specified `cmp_fnc`.
+The non-negative `loc_data` offset is used to calculate the pointers that are passed to the compare function.
+If you choose `loc_data` to be zero, the pointers to the nodes themselves are passed.
+
+> The `begin` pointer is required in all of the above functions while the `end` pointer is still optional.
+> {style="note"}
+
+> Sorting uses [small buffer optimization](install.md#small-buffer-optimizations) for small list sizes.
+> If a list contains no more than `CX_LINKED_LIST_SORT_SBO_SIZE` number of elements, no additional heap memory is allocated during the entire operation.
+> Otherwise, merge operations still do not allocate extra memory as long as the length of the merged sub-list is not larger.
+
+## Compare
+
+```C
+#include <cx/linked_list.h>
+
+int cx_linked_list_compare(
+ const void *begin_left, const void *begin_right,
+ ptrdiff_t loc_advance, ptrdiff_t loc_data,
+ cx_compare_func cmp_func
+);
+```
+
+For comparing two linked list, you need to specify where to start,
+and the offsets for the pointer to the next node and the data.
+
+In the natural case, `begin_left` and `begin_right` point to the first node of either list,
+and `loc_advance` is the offset of the `next` pointer.
+But it is also possible to start with the _last_ node of both lists and use the `prev` pointer to compare them backwards.
+
+The `loc_data` offset is used to calculate the pointer that is passed to the `cmp_fnc`.
+This can either be the offset of a specific field in the struct, or simply zero in which case the pointers to the nodes themselves are passed to the compare function.
<seealso>
<category ref="apidoc">