Good and bad practices

Here you’ll find good and bad practices on how to use the MacroLibX.

👍 Good practices

Clear the windows

Use mlx_clear_window at the begenning of new frames (the begenning of the first loop hook). This will prevent common issues like texts stacking each others.

Reuse images

When you’ll use an image multiple times reuse it. You can put the same image at multiple places in the same frame.

mlx_image img = mlx_new_image_from_file(mlx, "path/to/my/awesome/image.png", &img_width, &img_height);
mlx_put_image_to_window(mlx, win, img, 42, 42);
mlx_put_image_to_window(mlx, win, img, 100, 42); // Will put the image at each places
mlx_put_image_to_window(mlx, win, img, 300, 550);

Use the mlx_extended.h functions

Use extended functions instead of calling a ton of times mlx_put_pixel or mlx_set_image_pixel to draw or modify images. They are A LOT more optimized.

Don’t let the CPU burn

You may want to use mlx_set_fps_goal to let the CPU rest a bit.

Report issues on Gihtub

When you find a problem with the MacroLibX, please search if it is not already reported on Github and if not, report it yourself.

Use the suppression file

Yes, I know that the MacroLibX leaks. In fact the library itself does not leak, but the third party libraries do. All of the leaks from the MacroLibX comes from lazy Nvidia’s Vulkan driver, paranoîd Valgrind on SDL2’s X11 usage and still Valgrind finding false positives in dl_open. These are common “issues” present in every Vulkan application and nothing can really be done about this. The only solution found was to create a Valgrind suppression file that clears most of the leaks. Some can still appear due to the suppression file not being invasive to avoid clearing user’s program leaks.

👎 Bad practices

Don’t load multiple times the same image

This is almost the same point as this. Load each images only once and especially don’t load images each frame.

Don’t use multithreading

The MacroLibX is not thread safe and will never be. It is an educational library, if you have to use multithreading to speed up your project you should think about optimizing it more or switching to a better library like SDL or a graphics API as WebGPU or SDL GPU (please let OpenGL die, it does more harm to the GPU standards than good).