Task: Ramer-Douglas-Peucker line simplification
C: #include <assert.h>
#include <math.h>
#include <stdio.h>

typedef struct point_tag {
    double x;
    double y;
} point_t;


double perpendicular_distance(point_t p, point_t p1, point_t p2) {
    double dx = p2.x - p1.x;
    double dy = p2.y - p1.y;
    double d = sqrt(dx * dx + dy * dy);
    return fabs(p.x * dy - p.y * dx + p2.x * p1.y - p2.y * p1.x)/d;
}



size_t douglas_peucker(const point_t* points, size_t n, double epsilon,
                       point_t* dest, size_t destlen) {
    assert(n >= 2);
    assert(epsilon >= 0);
    double max_dist = 0;
    size_t index = 0;
    for (size_t i = 1; i + 1 < n; ++i) {
        double dist = perpendicular_distance(points[i], points[0], points[n - 1]);
        if (dist > max_dist) {
            max_dist = dist;
            index = i;
        }
    }
    if (max_dist > epsilon) {
        size_t n1 = douglas_peucker(points, index + 1, epsilon, dest, destlen);
        if (destlen >= n1 - 1) {
            destlen -= n1 - 1;
            dest += n1 - 1;
        } else {
            destlen = 0;
        }
        size_t n2 = douglas_peucker(points + index, n - index, epsilon, dest, destlen);
        return n1 + n2 - 1;
    }
    if (destlen >= 2) {
        dest[0] = points[0];
        dest[1] = points[n - 1];
    }
    return 2;
}

void print_points(const point_t* points, size_t n) {
    for (size_t i = 0; i < n; ++i) {
        if (i > 0)
            printf(" ");
        printf("(%g, %g)", points[i].x, points[i].y);
    }
    printf("\n");
}

int main() {
    point_t points[] = {
        {0,0}, {1,0.1}, {2,-0.1}, {3,5}, {4,6},
        {5,7}, {6,8.1}, {7,9}, {8,9}, {9,9}
    };
    const size_t len = sizeof(points)/sizeof(points[0]);
    point_t out[len];
    size_t n = douglas_peucker(points, len, 1.0, out, len);
    print_points(out, n);
    return 0;
}

PHP: function perpendicular_distance(array $pt, array $line) {

  $dx = $line[1][0] - $line[0][0];
  $dy = $line[1][1] - $line[0][1];
  $mag = sqrt($dx * $dx + $dy * $dy);
  if ($mag > 0) {
    $dx /= $mag;
    $dy /= $mag;
  }

  $pvx = $pt[0] - $line[0][0];
  $pvy = $pt[1] - $line[0][1];
  $pvdot = $dx * $pvx + $dy * $pvy;

  $dsx = $pvdot * $dx;
  $dsy = $pvdot * $dy;
  $ax = $pvx - $dsx;
  $ay = $pvy - $dsy;

  return sqrt($ax * $ax + $ay * $ay);
}

function ramer_douglas_peucker(array $points, $epsilon) {
  if (count($points) < 2) {
    throw new InvalidArgumentException('Not enough points to simplify');
  }

  $dmax = 0;
  $index = 0;
  $end = count($points) - 1;
  $start_end_line = [$points[0], $points[$end]];
  for ($i = 1; $i < $end; $i++) {
    $dist = perpendicular_distance($points[$i], $start_end_line);
    if ($dist > $dmax) {
      $index = $i;
      $dmax = $dist;
    }
  }

  if ($dmax > $epsilon) {
    $new_start = ramer_douglas_peucker(array_slice($points, 0, $index + 1), $epsilon);
    $new_end = ramer_douglas_peucker(array_slice($points, $index), $epsilon);
    array_pop($new_start);
    return array_merge($new_start, $new_end);
  }


  return [ $points[0], $points[$end]];
}

$polyline = [
  [0,0],
  [1,0.1],
  [2,-0.1],
  [3,5],
  [4,6],
  [5,7],
  [6,8.1],
  [7,9],
  [8,9],
  [9,9],
];

$result = ramer_douglas_peucker($polyline, 1.0);
print "Result:\n";
foreach ($result as $point) {
  print $point[0] . ',' . $point[1] . "\n";
}