Useful C++ / Unix Resources

Chris Riesbeck
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Northwestern University
Last updated: July 2, 2009

General Notes

• How to write good code
• How to test code
• Miscellaneous C++ topics
• A summary of the containers and algorithms in the Standard Library (formerly called the Standard Template Library or STL)

Required Software

The following Unix tools are required for my C and C++ courses:

• gcc 4, the Gnu C/C++ compiler, version 4
• gdb, the Gnu debugger
• make, the Gnu Makefile utility
• zip and unzip, the Gnu file compression utilities

To get these:

• Windows: install Cygwin
• MacOS X: install XCode
• Linux: use the installer common to your Linus, e.g., apt-get for Ubuntu

In addition, you need:

• UnitTest++, an open-source package for unit testing C and C++ code. Follow these instructions.
• This sample project that includes the NU EECS Magic Makefile and example code using UnitTest++.

After the above have been installed, test your setup with these instructions.

Recommended Development Environments

You can use a Unix shell window and any text editing environment you like, to edit, compile and run code, but I recommend using an integrated development environment (IDE). IDE's make it easy to edit, compile, test, and debug code with a few mouse clicks. Two recommended IDE's that I can help you with are:

• Code::Blocks -- an integrated development environment for C++ that runs on Windows, Linux and MacOS X. See these local setup instructions
• XCode -- an integrated development environment for C++ and other languages that comes with MacOS X. See these local setup instructions

The following IDE's are not suitable:

• Microsoft Visual Studio and Visual Express: these don't support Makefiles, gcc, or the C99 standard
• Dev-C++: has problems on Vista.

Programming references and tutorials

The following notes are generally useful resources on the web.

GDB -- the Gnu Debugger:

• Using GDB in Code::Blocks (PDF) -- tutorial starts on page 41
• XCode Debugging Guide -- Note:
  • With Makefile-based projects, you must uncheck Load symbols lazily in the XCode Debugging Preferences. This only needs to be done once.
  • For some reason, XCode ignores a breakpoint on a CPPUNIT assertion that's the last line of a function.
• GDB tutorial (PDF) for those who aren't using an IDE.

C++:

• C++ reference web site
• The built-in C++ operators, their precedence, and a short example of each
• Cay Horstmann's list of C++ pitfalls.

Unix:

• Unix basics (quick reference)
• Linux tutorial

BASH (Bourne Again Shell) is the version of the command shell that runs in Cygwin. Two good sites about BASH commands are:

• BASH Tutorial
• BASH command summary -- nice short readable list, with each command linking to a fuller description

MAKE:

• Local notes for using Make in my classes
• The Opus Software make tutorial
• The GNU make manual

Comments? Let me know!