CMake from Zero to Hero

Name: CMake from Zero to Hero
Rating: 4.2 (133 reviews)

Learn CMake From Scratch in Linux & Windows

Created bySerban Stoenescu

Last updated 11/2023

English

English [Auto],

What you'll learn

Understand the basics of CMake
Learn how to organize your project's structure, install and export it
Use 3rd party libraries
Testing features of CMake (CTest)

Course content

8 sections • 58 lectures • 3h 57m total length

Introduction2:26
What to Watch Next0:07
Installing on Ubuntu5:17
Using CMake in Windows: Visual Studio and CLion2:19
Using CMake in Windows from the Command Line8:38

A minimal example - part 19:01
Minimal example - discussion5:52
Static Versus Shared Libraries2:13
Explore static versus shared libraries, how linking affects executable size and runtime requirements, and how cmake add_library handles library types, including object libraries for common code, Unix, Windows, and macOS.
Basic Library Example10:12
Learn to build a basic library with cmake, build two executables, switch between Make and Ninja generators, and link executables to static or shared libraries.
Recap0:21

Intro1:15
Basic Variables Example12:13
Learn basic cmake variables and script mode, define and retrieve variables with set and ${VAR}, handle undefined values, unset variables, and build semantic version strings with major, minor, and patch.
Cache Variables8:55
Options and cmake-gui6:17
Explore how to define options in cmake using the option command, treat options as boolean cache variables, and use cmake-gui to edit and generate builds, with internal variables hidden.
CMake-gui for Windows3:09
Strings6:54
Explore string manipulation in CMake by using the string command to find and replace substrings, convert to lower case, and leverage sub comments, match options, and regular expressions.
Lists4:56
Computing numeric values1:52
Recap0:14

Conditionals2:10
Conditionals example5:45
Demonstrates using if statements in CMake, including true/false evaluation, handling non-existing variables and empty strings, and testing packages with find_package and the found variables.
Short practical example0:18
Loops1:21
Master loop constructs in cmake, including for each and while, using lists and the items keyword, with break and continue for flow control.
Loops example4:26
Explore CMake loops using for each over lists a and b, combining items, customizing loop variable names, and using range semantics similar to C++ to control start and end values.
Recap0:14

Intro3:49
Starting project2:44
We will shortly go over the project that we will build upon in the next lectures
Subfolders (add_subdirectory)4:45
Variable scope2:36
We see what happens to variables inside subfolders + how to use PARENT_SCOPE
Proper way of including headers (target_include_directories)7:29
Learn to configure include directories with target_include_directories in cmake, using public vs private scopes and angle brackets versus quotes to share headers across targets.
Target properties and propagation1:55
Functions4:14
We use functions and target_compiler_options()
Functions versus macros4:19
We learn what a macro is and how it's different from a function
Optional arguments2:58
We treat optional arguments using ARGC, ARGV and ARGN
Keyword arguments - part 19:40
We use cmake_parse_arguments to make a function with keyword arguments (or named arguments)
Keyword arguments - part 27:15
We continue our example by reading the version string from the file and setting the output variables
How did you find this example?0:08
Including other cmake files6:28
We compare include() with add_subdirectory() and explore some CMake predefined variables, like CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR, CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR and so on.
Recap0:45

Exporting and Installing1:24
Using the install command3:26
We will use install() to copy our header files into the install location
Installing exports and generating config files4:31
We will call install() with the EXPORT keyword and generate a config file which we later use with find_package
Importing your project with find_package()3:33
We are creating a small project which uses our old sortdemo project. We call find_package() for that
Library namespaces, CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH and other details4:07
We will add a namespace to our export, install a binary and play around with CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH. CMAKE_MODULE_PATH is also (very) briefly shown.
Recap0:22

Intro1:36
Explore methods to integrate third-party libraries into a CMake project, including fetch content, adding subdirectories for CMake projects, using pkg-config for non-CMake projects, and creating a custom find module.
About Google Test0:30
FetchContent7:04
We pull GoogleTest with FetchContent to see how to get dependencies with FetchContent
PkgConfig | Projects that are not CMake projects8:50
We use pkg-config to find flags that we need to pass to compilers. Next we use pkg-config in CMake to link to the libraries and set include folders.
Manually finding libs and include paths6:54
We demonstrate how to use find_library and find_path
Typo in the next lecture0:07
Find modules8:59
We look at how to write our own find module.
Case study: FindThreads8:56
We call find_package with "Threads" to build an example with threads.
Recap0:17

Requirements

Basic C++ knowledge
No CMake experience is needed

Description

This course is for C++ developers and computer science students and it helps with the frustration of learning CMake by providing a structured way of doing it, using small "Hello World"-like examples and some real world examples as well.

If you're like me, you were frustrated because there is no structured tutorial that goes beyond the absolute basics. Maybe you even hated CMake, like a lot of programmers. This will be taken care of, because this is a structured learning path, and we will cover some of the most frequently used features of CMake.

No prior experience with CMake is needed, but basic C++ is needed. Just the basics, nothing fancy.

I've been a professional software developer for more than 10 years now. I've also been a trainer in one of my jobs. I noticed that it's better to take a hands-on approach and I encourage you to do the same with this course. Play around with the examples. Break them. See what happens.

What you'll get out of this:

CMake is cross-platform
It's in a lot of open-source projects, (maybe even your work projects) which you'll understand better
Simple, easy to follow examples, some of them inspired by real projects
Write your own CMake projects:
- Build
- Export
- Use 3rd party libraries
- Test
Mostly Linux examples, some Windows ones
- Windows setup in CLion, Visual Studio, the command line + cmake-gui

Here's a rough outline of the course, but please look at the curriculum on this page:

CMake basics
Variables
Control Flow
Structuring your projects
Export
External dependencies
Testing with CTest

Who this course is for:

C/C++ developers/students interested in CMake

CMake from Zero to Hero

What you'll learn

Explore related topics

Course content

Introduction5 lectures • 19min

Basics5 lectures • 28min

CMake Variables9 lectures • 46min

Control flow6 lectures • 14min

Organizing the project structure14 lectures • 59min

Exporting your project6 lectures • 17min

External dependencies9 lectures • 43min

Testing your project with CTest4 lectures • 12min

Requirements

Description

Who this course is for: