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--- haas:fall2014:data:projects:node1 [2014/09/21 21:55] – [Submission Criteria] wedge
+++ haas:fall2014:data:projects:node1 [2014/09/21 22:02] (current) – [node library] wedge
@@ Line 204: / Line 204: @@
 None of these files denote an entire runnable program. These are merely standalone functions. The various programs under the **testing/** directory will use these functions in addition to their application logic to create complete executable programs.
+You will also notice there are function prototypes for these node library functions in the **node.h** header file, located in the **inc/** subdirectory, which you'll notice all the related programs you'll be playing with in this project are **#include**ing.
+The prototypes (taken right from **inc/node.h** are as follows:
+<code c>
+Node *mknode(int   );     // allocate new node containing value
+Node *rmnode(Node *);     // deallocate node
+Node *cpnode(Node *);     // duplicate node
+</code>
+This is your API for the node library. In order to use the node library three things need to happen:
+  * you must **#include "node.h"** (generally already done you in this project)
+  * you must link against **lib/libnode.a** (the Makefiles take care of this for you)
+  * you must call the functions providing the appropriate arguments and handling the return values
+In general, this is no different than what you've already done, each and every time you've used **printf()**, **scanf()**, **atoi()**, **sqrt()**, etc. Only until now, you haven't actually had the code  right in front of you. But these functions all work the same way, these conditions have to be met for them to operate and be used.
+The compiler does a lot of behind-the-scenes work (linking against the C standard library by default, so all you have to do is include **stdio.h** and/or **stdlib.h**).
+If you've ever played with the math library, you've had a slightly closer look, as such code wouldn't compile with only an include of **math.h**, you also needed to add a **-lm** on the compiler command-line.
+Again, same details apply here, only the Makefile system automates the library linking. All we have to do is **#include** the appropriate files.
 ====Node library unit tests====
 In **testing/node/unit/**, you will find 3 files (along with a **Makefile**):

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