Termeric

Termeric is a lightweight terminal graphics engine written in C that provides a simple interface for creating terminal-based graphical applications. It features multi-threaded rendering, performance monitoring, and buffer management.

Features

• Multi-threaded architecture for improved performance
• Raw terminal mode handling for direct input control
• Performance monitoring and statistics
• Vector and buffer utilities for dynamic memory management
• Cross-platform terminal manipulation

Requirements

• POSIX-compliant operating system
• C compiler with C11 support
• Terminal with ANSI escape sequence support

Building

The project uses standard C headers and POSIX libraries.

To compile:

gcc main.c -o termeric

Architecture

Termeric is composed of several modular components:

Core Components

• buffer.h: Implements buffer management for terminal output
• engine.h: Main engine loop and thread management
• screen.h: Screen manipulation and drawing primitives
• input.h: Input handling and key mapping
• timing.h: High-precision timing utilities
• vec.h: Generic vector implementation for dynamic arrays

Key Features

Threading Model

The engine uses two main threads:

• Render thread: Handles frame rendering
• I/O thread: Manages terminal output

Performance Monitoring

Built-in performance metrics include:

• Average frame time
• Best/worst frame times
• Real-time FPS calculation

Drawing Utilities

• Pixel drawing with custom characters
• Rectangle/square drawing
• Screen clearing and buffer management

Usage

Basic example:

#include "engine.h"
#include "input.h"

void render() {
    // Your rendering code here
    if(get_key() == CTRL_KEY('q')){
        engine_close();
    }
}

int main() {
    engine_init();
    return 0;
}

Input Handling

The engine provides several pre-defined special keys:

• Arrow keys
• Page Up/Down
• Escape
• Control key combinations

Screen Manipulation

Drawing operations available:

• draw_pixel: Place a character at specific coordinates
• clean_square: Clear a rectangular area
• draw_blank: Clear entire screen

Performance

The engine includes built-in performance monitoring that tracks:

• Frame times
• FPS calculations
• Min/max frame times
• Average performance metrics

Configuration

Several configurable parameters are available in init.h:

• num_frames: Number of frame buffers (default: 10)
• BUF_SIZE: Buffer size for screen output (default: 8000)
• debug: Enable/disable debug mode