Managing system-wide parameters in C -

i'm developing system of many processes have aware of many configurations, options , data of system. doing that, implement shared object use pointer shared memory block of parameters , data. data of parameters types, values, default values, functions get/set , etc. data in kind of look-up table. shared object has functions get/set these parameters, processes in system can get/set these many parameters. have many defines parameters codes , many possibilities each parameter, example, 1 code can float value, , array of ints. can imagine complexity of code switch , cases..

my questions are:

does practice correct handling system-wide parameters , configurations? speed , efficiency don't want use db file, have keep data close in ram. thought moving look-up table in-memory db processing time critical , don't want waste time on building sql statements , compiling them. ideas of best way it?

your program design sounds fine, given parameters encapsulated in separate file, declared static , accessible through set/get functions. code accessing data, potential thread-safety code, can placed in same file , hidden caller.

whenever makes sense keep parameters in ram or in db depends on how fast need data available. sounds isn't option you, because naturally db slower access. makes more sense implement db if have multiple clients need access data, doesn't seem case here.