Awesome C++

C++ is efficient, expressive, high-level, multi-paradigm, cross-platform programming language.

Programmers who want to productively use C++, should:

• know the language :-)
• know the tools
  • IDE, editorconfig, clangd, clang-format, clang-tidy, …
  • compilers: g++, clang++, …
  • build system: cmake, meson, GNU make, …
  • debugging: gdb, valgrind, g++/clang++ sanitizers, clang-analyzer, …
  • code management: git, …
• follow best practices and learn new things (e.g. modern standards: C++11/14/17/20/23/…)
• use design patterns and existing libraries

See Awesome Modern C++, Awesome C++, A list of open source C++ libraries

Debugging

Typical debugging workflow:

1. use git bisect
2. add custom output commands to the code: std::cout << "my_variable = " << my_variable << std::endl
3. use valgrind
4. use a sanitizer
   • g++/clang++ compiler options: -g -fsanitize=...
   • address + leak sanitizer: -fsanitize=address
   • memory sanitizer: -fsanitize=memory
   • undefined behavior: -fsanitize=undefined

5. enable detection of floating-point exceptions (NAN, INF, etc.) using the feenableexcept function (which is not available on Windows)

   #include <cfenv>
   #include <csignal>
   #include <iostream>
   
   #ifdef _WIN32
   #include <cfloat>
   static void feenableexcept( uint16_t fpflags )
   {
       unsigned int new_word = 0;
       if (fpflags & FE_INVALID) new_word |= _EM_INVALID;
       if (fpflags & FE_DIVBYZERO) new_word |= _EM_ZERODIVIDE;
       if (fpflags & FE_OVERFLOW) new_word |= _EM_OVERFLOW;
       unsigned int cw = 0;
       _controlfp_s(&cw, ~new_word, _MCW_EM);
   }
   #endif
   
   static void printInfoAndAbort( int sig = 0 )
   {
       if( sig == SIGSEGV )
           fprintf( stderr, "Invalid memory reference, aborting...\n" );
       else if( sig == SIGFPE )
           fprintf( stderr, "Floating-point exception occurred, aborting...\n" );
       else
           fprintf( stderr, "Aborting due to signal %d...\n", sig );
       abort();
   }
   
   int main()
   {
       signal( SIGSEGV, printInfoAndAbort );
       signal( SIGFPE, printInfoAndAbort );
       feenableexcept( FE_ALL_EXCEPT & ~FE_INEXACT );
   
       double a = 1;
       double b = 0;
       std::cout << "a/b = " << a/b << std::endl;
   
       return 0;
   }
   

6. set some compiler macros (e.g. _GLIBCXX_ASSERTIONS)

7. use a debugger like gdb