Software Development

In my search for an editing environment, I am currently running Visual Studio Code with a number of extensions. It is a GUI based IDE environment and seems to be relatively performant. When jumping to symbol declarations and definitions, it can take a few seconds while performing the lookup.

Since I also use VIM for editing files, I have been keeping my eye on VIM add-ons for creating a console based IDE. Some tools which might be applicable:

• clangd - the language server protocol daemon for clang
• Using LSP & clangd in Vim - notes on integrating clangd, and with a reference at the end about the JSON compilation database, (which in another link, can be supplied via CMake)
• vim cp enhanced highlight - with clangd, I am not sure if this is required, but helps with syntax high-lighting without clangd
• vim-cpp-modern: Enhanced C and C++ syntax highlighting - another syntax highligher, one is forked from the other, with this one being more current, I believe
• VIM CMake - plugin to make working with CMake a little nicer
• CMake Support for Vim - CMake Interoperability in Vim - not sure what the difference is to the previous link
• Vim Cmake integration - some chatter on StackOverflow on integrating CMake with VIM

NeoVim

• neovim
• clangd with neovim

Continuing on in the search for a responsive IDE for building large C++ codesets with CMake, the next stop is Visual Studio Code.

The initial install supplies a basic IDE editing environment.

Usability occurs when extensions are loaded. I have the following installed (versions are as of this writing):

• C/C++ for Visual Studio Code, v0.26, by Microsoft <== some sites say to disable this, but it is required by the debug function
• CMake, v0.0.17, by twxs, which provides CMake language support
• CMake Tools, v1.2.3, by Microsoft, which provides the build capability
• vscode-clangd, v0.0.19, is the clang language server, which provides code completion and symbol tables

Prior to installation of the extensions, on Debian, I installed the following packages first (in addition to the standard compilers):

• cmake
• clangd
• clangd-9

reddit - PROTIP: Use clangd instead of the official C/C++ extension suggests adding the following to .vscode/settings.json:

"C_Cpp.autocomplete": "Disabled",
"C_Cpp.formatting": "Disabled",
"C_Cpp.errorSquiggles": "Disabled",
"C_Cpp.intelliSenseEngine": "Disabled",

In addition, I have a more recent version of clangd, so in .vscode/settings.json, I also have:

"clangd.path": "/usr/lib/llvm-9/bin/clangd",

My over all file looks like:

{
  "clangd.path": "/usr/lib/llvm-9/bin/clangd",
  "C_Cpp.autocomplete": "Disabled",
  "C_Cpp.formatting": "Disabled",
  "C_Cpp.errorSquiggles": "Disabled",
  "C_Cpp.intelliSenseEngine": "Disabled",
  "C_Cpp.default.intelliSenseMode": "clang-x64",
  "editor.tabSize": 2
}

In the root directory of the project, a link is required (the setting "compileCommands" in .vscode/c_cpp_properties.json does not appear to be used by the clangd module) :

ln -s build/compile_commands.json .

2023/11/05 - Or add the following to .vscode/settings.json (which causes the file to be created and referenced directly in the basic workspace directory):

"cmake.copyCompileCommands": "${workspaceFolder}/compile_commands.json"

As a note, if compile_commands.json is not provided, then the following flag needs to be passed to CMake (seems to be defaulted "on" in current Visual Studio Code):

-DCMAKE_EXPORT_COMPILE_COMMANDS=1

Documentation for clangd is found at Getting started with clangd.