C++ Tools Ecosystem C++ Tools Ecosystem C++ Tools

Compilers Compile

Offline Compilers Offline

GNU g++	Windows 10: WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) Windows: MinGW-w64 project or STL's MinGW distro
LLVM clang++	download page
Microsoft Visual C++	Only newer versions are largely conforming to the modern ISO C++ standard(s).
Intel ICC
NVIDIA PGI
Embarcadero C++ Compiler	bundled with Embarcadero C++Builder
Oracle C++ Compiler	bundled with Oracle Developer Studio
IBM XL C++

Online Compilers Online

Compiler Explorer	lets you run code through many different compilers shows nicely annotated assembly output lots of compilers with lots of different versions, also with experimental features supports several popular libraries (ranges, {fmt}, …) great text editor with multiple cursors, VIM mode, dark mode, … code round-trip between Compiler Explorer, C++ Insights and Quick Bench possible
Wandbox	gcc clang C++03 - C++2a Boost
C++ shell	gcc 4.9 Boost 1.55 C++03 - 14
IDEone	C++14

Debugging Debug

gdb

Intro

the GNU debugger

lldb

the LLVM project's debugger

rr

records program state over time
replay & debug same recording many times
reverse execution
chaos mode for catching intermittent bugs
claims to be faster and more memory efficient than gdb

WinDbg

does also provide record & replay debugging like rr (here called time travel debugging)

`gdb` Frontends gdb

cgdb Example Session	runs in the command line split screen with source code window shows break points and current instruction install on Ubuntu/Debian/WSL: `sudo apt-get install -y cgdb`
gdbgui	browser-based frontend for gdb install via pip: `sudo pip install gdbgui`
DDD	official GNU debugger frontend The UI is a bit old-fashioned, but it is actually quite usable if you spend some time with it. install on Ubuntu/Debian/WSL: `sudo apt-get install -y ddd`
WinGDB	debugging with GDB in Microsoft Visual Studio
Online GDB	Online compiler and debugger tool for C, C++, Python and many other languages.

Code Analysis Analyze

Sanitizers

ASAN Intro	`g++ -fsanitize=address` `clang++ -fsanitize=address` `cl.exe /fsanitize=address` MSVC (as of 10/2019)
UBSAN Intro	`g++ -fsanitize=undefined` `clang++ -fsanitize=undefined`
LeakSanitizer	`g++ -fsanitize=leak` `clang++ -fsanitize=leak`
ThreadSanitizer	`g++ -fsanitize=thread` `clang++ -fsanitize=thread`

Stand-Alone Analysis Tools Stand-Alone Tools Stand-Alone

valgrind

code instrumentation framework
runs program on a VM
--tool=memcheck leak, invalid read/write detection
--tool=callgrind runtime profiling
--tool=cachegrind cache profiling
--tool=massif heap memory profiling
integration into various IDEs

Dr. Memory

dynamic instrumentation (runs on unmodified binaries)
leak detection
invalid memory read/write detection

HeapTrack

heap memory profiler
annotation of memory allocations

Application Verifier

Deleaker

Official Tutorial

memory leak detection
integration into various IDEs

CppDepend

source code analysis tool
code quality metrics
coding standard compliance analysis
dependency visualization
Visual Studio add-in

Profiling & Benchmarking Profile

Profiling Applications Applications

GNU Profiler (gprof)	ubiquitous free software some IDEs can present gprof results in a GUI
Intel VTune Profiler	free of charge GUI & command line interface sampling-based profiling hardware event sampling for Intel chips locks & waits analysis memory access analysis storage analysis integrates with MS Visual Studio
OProfile
perf Official Tutorial Tutorial	free software
Valgrind (cachegrind, callgrind)	free software
Apple Instruments	part of XCode
NVIDIA Nsight Compute	Host: profiling for NVIDIA GPUs (architectures: Paspal, Volta, Turing) supplants NVIDIA Visual Profiler
DTrace	free software
Optick	instrumentation-based and sampling-based profiling GPU counters
GlowCode
SmartBear AQTime
Arm MAP
Oracle Performance Analyzer
Easy Profiler

Benchmarking Libraries / Frameworks Libraries / Frameworks Libraries

Google Benchmark	Apache-2.0
gperftools (originally Google Performance Tools)	BSD-3-Clause high-performance multithreaded `malloc()` heap checker heap profiler cpu profiler
Celero	Apache-2.0
`plf::nanotimer`	zlib simple, cross-platform microsecond-precision timer class

Build Systems Build

GNU Make Tutorial 1 Tutorial 2 Tutorial 3 Manual Cheat Sheet	Quite OK for (very) small projects. Every C++ programmer should know how to use Make. ubiquitous, portable a lot of limitations not very expressive syntax
CMake Tutorial	Seems to be(come) the de-facto standard in the C++ world. available on a lot of platforms lot of tutorials, resources, etc. used as project model by some IDEs can be slow at times carries a lot of techincal debt clumsy syntax C++ Starter Project with Complete CMake Setup by Jason Turner More Modern CMake Deniz Bahadir (Meeting C++ 2018) Effective CMake Daniel Pfeifer (C++Now 2017) Using Modern CMake Patterns… Mathieu Ropert (CppCon 2017)
Bazel Tutorial	fast, seems to scale well rather rigid project organization has many dependencies itself
MSBuild	Command-line based build system from Microsoft packaged with Microsoft Visual Studio , but also available as stand-alone application. XML-based build files supported by , Embarcadero C++Builder
build2	uniform across platforms, no project generation step supports wildcard patterns support for C++ Modules support for cross-compilation skips recompilation of ignorable changes (comments, whitespaces, etc). dependency management no dependencies, only C++ compiler required
QMake	Part of the Qt Project .
SCons	automatic dependency analysis uses a real programming language (Python) for config files pretty verbose; even common tasks require a lot of code can be slow for big projects
Premake
Ninja
Meson
FASTbuild
Gradle
Waf
Evoke	Fairly new system still under development.
GNU autotools	My advice: stay away from autotools if you can.

Unit Testing Frameworks Test

Catch2	BSL-1.0 one header only
DocTest Manual	MIT one header only
Boost Test	BSL-1.0
Google Test	BSD 3-Clause "New" or "Revised"
CUTE	LGPL3 header only part of Cevelop
QtTest	Part of the Qt Project .
Mull	Apache-2.0 LLVM-based
Bandit	MIT
CppUTest	BSD-3-Clause

Package Management Package

conan	decentralized build systems: CMake, MSBuild, … binary packages
vcpkg	Visual Studio integration CMake support only builds from source
Hunter	CMake only
Buckaroo	GitHub, BitBucket, GitLab, … integrates into various IDEs
NIX

Code Editing / IDEs Code

IDEs

Qt Creator	quite beginner-friendly very responsive UI has a VIM emulation mode (could be better, but it works)
JetBrains CLion	lots of features highly customizable, modern UI uses CMake as project model, however recent versions can also use traditional Makefiles has a VIM emulation mode (could be better, but it works) can be a bit slow for very large projects can be quite overwhelming for beginners free for students
Microsoft Visual Studio	packed with features; very good autocompletion and code analysis large ecosystem of third-party plugins project setup and compiler configuration can be a bit overwhelming for beginners can be quite overwhelming for beginners Make sure to use the latest version, as only newer versions of the compiler are largely conforming to the modern ISO C++ standard(s).
Embarcadero C++Builder Free Community Edition	the free community edition includes a (very) small business commercial license
Apple XCode
Eclipse CDT	good static analysis & linting supports several project build models: fully managed, Makefile-based, … setup of compilers can be a bit confusing to beginners great VIM emulation with Vrapper plugin can be a bit slow for very large UI feels a bit dated
Embarcadero Dev-C++	quite beginner-friendly, very easy to set up `gcc` integration, comes with bundled TDM-gcc `gprof` integration low memory consumption UI feels a bit dated
Android Studio	based on JetBrains IntelliJ IDEA which is also the base of CLion
Cevelop	Eclipse-based IDE some unique features regarding static analysis and refactoring, like e.g., visualizing template instantiations can be a bit slow for very large projects
Kdevelop	OS X version is experimental
CodeLite
CodeBlocks	OS X version is outdated
Oracle Developer Studio

Text Editors Editors

Visual Studio Code

nice modern UI
thriving extension ecosystem
origin of the Language Server Protocol
highly configurable VIM plugin with surround, easymotion, highlightedyank, …

VIM

A classic and insanely powerful.

Has quite a steep learning curve, but the modal editing paradigm is really worth learning. Only real drawback: once you grok it, you want VIM-style editing everywhere.

highly customizable, large plugin ecosystem

neovim

a refactor of VIM and mostly compatible with it
integrated LSP support planned for the next major release

Emacs

Also a classic; also super powerful.

Sublime Text

sleek UI
probably the fastest of all text editors
highly customizable, large plugin ecosystem

atom.io

nice UI
customizable, large plugin ecosystem
sometimes a bit sluggish

Notepad++

A classic in the Windows world. Quite OK, but not as powerful as the other editors in this list.

Code Formatters Formatters

clang format	part of the llvm/clang project
Artistic Style	stand-alone tool

Source Code Management SCM

SCM Systems Systems

Git

The de-facto industry standard for version control.

very fast
possible to set up elaborate workflows
complex command line interface

Mercurial

Python-based source control management system.

easier to learn than git
beginner-friendly documentation
a bit slower than git
some, more involved workflows not possible out-of-the box

Tools

tig

Command Line Git Frontend

VIM-style key mapping
commit view with branch graph
(un-)staging, diff, stash, log, grep
configurable UI

Sublime Merge

Git Merging / Commit Crafting Tool

very fast UI
line-by-line staging
commit editing
diff view, same syntax highlighting as Sublime Text
multiple repositories (in tabs)
can use external or bundled git client

Web Tools Web

Compiler Explorer	lets you run code through many different compilers shows nicely annotated assembly output lots of compilers with lots of different versions, also with experimental features supports several popular libraries (ranges, {fmt}, …) great text editor with multiple cursors, VIM mode, dark mode, … code round-trip between Compiler Explorer, C++ Insights and Quick Bench possible
C++ Insights	Source-to-source transformation tool that makes behind-the-scenes compiler magic visible and understandable. Shows the code that `clang` generates for lambdas, range-based `for` loops, structured bindings, etc.
Quick Bench	Benchmark code (using Google Benchmark) and get a nice graphical runtime breakdown. You can choose from various versions of `gcc` or `clang`.
Online GDB	Online compiler and debugger tool for C, C++, Python and many other languages.

Related …

Development Setup

Curated List of C++ Libraries, Resources, …

Last updated: 2021-02-28