# prideout/par

single-file C libraries from Philip Allan Rideout

Repository: https://github.com/prideout/par
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/par
Language: C
License Family: other
Topics: graphics
Last push: 2026-07-23T18:01:33+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 75/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 94, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3924, "days_push": 41, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases, no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1012, forks 76 (observed 2026-08-28T04:03:13.476348+00:00)

## What it is
A collection of single-file C libraries by Philip Rideout, in the stb style, focused primarily on graphics tasks like procedural mesh generation, orbit camera control, and streamline triangulation. Each library ships as one self-contained, documented header, with a few extras covering HTTP requests, LRU file caching, easing functions, and 2D broad-phase collision detection.

## Use cases
- generate sphere and rounded cuboid meshes in C
- add orbit or pan-and-zoom camera controls to a 3D viewer
- triangulate wide lines and curves for rendering
- generate parametric surfaces like cylinders and tori in C
- pack circles into hierarchical bubble diagrams
- make simple HTTP requests in C without heavy dependencies
- get easing functions for animations in C

## When to choose
- you want drop-in, single-header C libraries with no build system or dependency overhead
- you need CPU-side procedural geometry (spheres, rounded boxes, parametric shapes) for OpenGL/Vulkan-style rendering
- you are building a small 3D viewer or tool and need orbit/pan/zoom camera behavior
- you prefer small, readable, well-blogged utilities over large frameworks

## When to avoid
- you need a full rendering engine, scene graph, or GPU-side framework rather than focused CPU-side utilities
- you require strong maintenance guarantees - some sub-libraries are explicitly unmaintained (e.g., par_msquares)
- you need C++-idiomatic APIs with classes, templates, or package-manager integration

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: stable
- function: graphics, animation, data-visualization, http-client, caching
- domain: graphics, data-visualization
- platform: c, cross-platform
- tags: single-file, header-only, c-library, stb-style, mesh-generation, procedural-generation, camera-control, orbit-camera, triangulation, streamlines, octasphere, parametric-surfaces, marching-squares, collision-detection, easing-functions, bluenoise, circle-packing, game-development, algorithms

## Member repositories
- prideout/par (main) score 75

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:13.476348+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T07:11:46.653974+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/prideout/par (fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:13.476348+00:00, sha db7cbe7dd399)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.