C++Now 2021

Originally developed as part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) open source medical segmentation and registration toolkit ITK in 1999, CMake has grown to take on a vital role in the C++ ecosystem. Bill Hoffman, a founder of Kitware (www.kitware.com), and the creator of CMake will talk about how CMake fits into the C++ world. This talk will describe how CMake is more than just a build system, but a tool chain that transforms C, C++, Fortran, CUDA, and C# code into a final, shippable product.

The heart of CMake is the codification of the complex knowledge between the C, C++, and Fortran language standards, and the diversity of available compilers, linkers, archivers, packagers, run-time loaders, and operating systems. CMake's ability to encode translation and artifact unit dependencies, manage language levels and compiler parameters via usage requirements, and support the mixing of multiple languages seamlessly are all designed to support the driving purpose of CMake: "to build software everywhere, correctly, with the user’s preferred tools.”

Once a project is correctly built, there is still work to be done to test and package the project. CMake provides a single cross platform process to install, package and test C++ software. With its open source development and large developer and user community, CMake is able to adapt to new tools and compilers quickly. Continuous testing on all supported platforms and a quarterly release cycle provide new features that are both stable and quick. CMake has a strong commitment to backwards compatibility assuring its user base that future versions will continue to build software into the future.

In summary, this talk will give the history behind CMake and explain how it fits into the areas not specified by the C++ standard, enabling developers to take advantage of the rich C++ ecosystem. The talk will introduce users to important CMake features supporting the seamless building, testing and deployment of C++ across most computing platforms.