C Development Tricks

Makefile

TARGET = prog
LIBS = -lm
CC = gcc
CFLAGS = -O3 -g -Wall -Wextra -std=gnu2x -fsanitize=undefined -fsanitize=address
# -fsanitize=address
BUILD_DIR = build

.PHONY: default all clean

default: $(TARGET)
all: default

OBJECTS = $(patsubst %.c, $(BUILD_DIR)/%.o, $(wildcard *.c))
HEADERS = $(wildcard *.h)

$(BUILD_DIR)/%.o: %.c $(HEADERS) | $(BUILD_DIR)
  $(CC) $(CFLAGS) -c $< -o $@

$(BUILD_DIR):
  mkdir -p $@

.PRECIOUS: $(TARGET) $(OBJECTS)

$(TARGET): $(OBJECTS)
  $(CC) $^ $(CFLAGS) $(LIBS) -o $@

clean:
  -rm -rf $(BUILD_DIR)
  -rm -f $(TARGET)

C++ Development Tricks

VSCode: Compile Active File

If you have the CMake extension installed for VSCode and setup properly (e.g. connect to correct compiler toolchain), there is a command palette called >CMake: Compile Active File. If you run it with a C++ source file open, it’ll run the compiler command for that specific source file, with all the arguments provided by CMake, allowing you to debug one file at a time.

With a bit of playing around, you may also be able to view the errors, error-by-error, using the “PROBLEMS” tab on the bottom (select it instead of “OUTPUT” or “TERMINAL”).

VSCode: Debugging with LLDB/GDB

Populating ./.vscode/launch.json allows you to use the built-in debugging interface to debug code. This includes setting breakpoints in the source code using the VSCode window. Really handy once it’s properly setup!