CMake Demo

Introduction to CMake configuration for building and running simple demo C/C++ programs.

Note

To build the sample demo programs that are in the example and project directory, we are using cmake build system command on WSL or another virtual machine with a GNU/Linux system, such as Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, CentOS, and so on. The choice is yours. Currently, we only support the amd64 and arm64 architecture.

Make sure you have a program called CMake installed, as well as a compiler for the C/C++ languages, typically by entering the following command in the terminal:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install cmake gcc g++
cmake --version

Also you can install clang-format and clang-tidy for formatting the code and other cool stuff, type the following command in the terminal:

sudo apt install clang-format clang-tidy

First step is a create build directory and generate the build files using cmake command from the top-level project directory, type the following command:

cmake -B build

After running the above command, a build folder will be created, containing the necessary files to build the demo programs. These files are generated automatically based on the configuration in the CMakeLists.txt file.

Navigate to the build directory and run the make command to build the executable files for the demo programs:

cd build ; make

The demo programs should be compiled, and now you can run the programs.

Caution

For the build to succeed, you must copy the header file mdsanima.h into the /usr/local/include directory. This is because the mdsanima.h header file is a part of the MDSANIMA library, which is not a part of the CMake build system right now. To copy this file to the destination directory, type the following command in the terminal sudo cp lib/mdsanima.h /usr/local/include and then run the make command again.

You can now run the demo programs by typing the following command inside the build directory:

./mdsanima-amarooke
./mdsanima-blizzard
./mdsanima-conquest
./mdsanima-fantastic
./mdsanima-incredible
./mdsanima-stunning

You can also run the programs from the top-lever directory by simply adding the full path to the executable files like this ./build/mdsanima-fantastic command.

Project Programs

The project programs are located in the project directory, and the executable files are located in the build directory. After running the first command cmake -B build to generate the build files for the example and project programs, and then running the make command to build the executable files, you can run the example programs that we showed above.

The mdsanima-amarooke, mdsanima-blizzard and mdsanima-conquest program is quite different. You can install the project program by typing the following command:

cd build
sudo make install

That command will install the mdsanima-amarooke, mdsanima-blizzard and mdsanima-conquest project demo programs in the /usr/local/bin directory, and you can run the program by typing the following command:

mdsanima-amarooke
mdsanima-blizzard
mdsanima-conquest

Now you can run the program in any directory on your system. The CMakeLists.txt file contains configuration for the static library and install command for this project.

The installation command will also create the mdsanima.h file in the /usr/local/include directory and the libmdsanima.a file in the /usr/local/lib directory that you can use later in your own project.

Example Programs

There are various ways to create a project, one of which is as I presented here. The source files are located in the src directory, but you can also put all the files in one directory; it all depends on the project.

Note

To manualy build the demo programs, you can use the gcc or g++ command to compile and link the source code files.

Here is a example instruction for compiling and linking the source code files, type the following command:

cd example/mdsanima-fantastic ; mkdir build
g++ -o build/mdsanima-fantastic main.cc
./build/mdsanima-fantastic

This method is only recommended if you want to manually build the program.

Important

The sample projects are written in C and C++ languages, and the source code files have extensions .c, .cc, and .cpp. You can also use the .cxx file format, as we added in the example project. Here is just an example. Remember to use the chosen format and be consistent with it.

All projects are the same; they only differ in the text displayed in the terminal and in other file extensions.

Google Style Guide

Also, check how Google does it. Here is a C++ Style Guide and Objective-C Style Guide provided by the Google Style Guide. The complete guide for naming conventions, variables, functions, and more by Google.

This comprehensive guide includes code style conventions for C/C++, Python or other languages, covering variable names, function and file names, and more. It has been authored, revised, and maintained by many Googlers.

This adjustment maintains clarity while enhancing the flow of information.