Book Image

Modern CMake for C++

By : Rafał Świdziński
5 (2)
Book Image

Modern CMake for C++

5 (2)
By: Rafał Świdziński

Overview of this book

Creating top-notch software is an extremely difficult undertaking. Developers researching the subject have difficulty determining which advice is up to date and which approaches have already been replaced by easier, better practices. At the same time, most online resources offer limited explanation, while also lacking the proper context and structure. This book offers a simpler, more comprehensive, experience as it treats the subject of building C++ solutions holistically. Modern CMake for C++ is an end-to-end guide to the automatization of complex tasks, including building, testing, and packaging. You'll not only learn how to use the CMake language in CMake projects, but also discover what makes them maintainable, elegant, and clean. The book also focuses on the structure of source directories, building targets, and packages. As you progress, you’ll learn how to compile and link executables and libraries, how those processes work, and how to optimize builds in CMake for the best results. You'll understand how to use external dependencies in your project – third-party libraries, testing frameworks, program analysis tools, and documentation generators. Finally, you'll get to grips with exporting, installing, and packaging for internal and external purposes. By the end of this book, you’ll be able to use CMake confidently on a professional level.
Table of Contents (18 chapters)
1
Section 1: Introducing CMake
5
Section 2: Building With CMake
10
Section 3: Automating With CMake

Summary

On the surface, it may seem that complexities associated with proper testing are so great, they aren't worth the effort. It's striking how much code out there is running without any tests at all, the primary argument being that testing your software is a daunting endeavor. I'll add: even more so if done manually. Unfortunately, without rigorous automated testing, visibility of any issues in the code is incomplete or non-existent. Untested code is often quicker to write (not always), but it's definitely much slower to read, refactor, and fix.

In this chapter, we outlined some key reasons for going forward with tests from the get-go. One of the most compelling is mental health and a good night's sleep. Not one developer lies in their bed thinking: I can't wait to be woken up in a few hours to put out some fires and fix bugs. But seriously: catching errors before deploying them to production can be a life-saver for you (and the company).

When...