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2019

  • in Tools
  • 12 min read

19 reasons why CMake is actually awesome

Topic of CMake is extremely controversial in the C/C++ community. People say that it is hard to properly set the include paths, that syntax is archaic or that managing dependencies is a nightmare. Expressing public hate for CMake has become a way of integrating with other software developers on the Internet.

And I partially understand that statements. Before CMake 3.x (aka Modern CMake) we were forced to use include_directories() or manually set installation paths for libraries, that were not supported by default in CMake. Syntax was a bit oldish and managing the compilation flags usually lead to headaches.

But since CMake 3.x (released on 06.2014) we have way more flexible and elegant ways of creating build systems with CMake. Almost all cons are gone in favor of the new modern solutions. The only problem is that once a bad impression was made, it is really hard to change it. After all, who would like to invest in studying new features and best practices of a build system?! Well I do, and let me share with you 19 reasons, why CMake is actually awesome and you should give it a try again.

  • in C++
  • 5 min read

Variadic functions – Part 2: C++11 variadic templates

In the previous article, we have seen an old C-style way of defining the variadic functions – via va_args macros. We have also learned their weaknesses: runtime cost, strict contract between caller and the callee and lack of type safety. Not to mention the problem of default type promotion!

Fortunately, standards committee thought this through and equipped us in C++11 with variadic templates. Let’s check them out.

  • in C++
  • 5 min read

Variadic functions – Part 1: va_args and friends

From time to time there is a need to write a function, that accepts an unspecified number of arguments. In C++ we have multiple ways of handling this depending on the context, use case and available language features. But the oldest and still most commonly used mechanism is the va_arg.

You think nothing can surprise you? Let’s bet.