C++ Practice — Learn

A concise workspace for practicing C++ examples and exercises. This repository contains a small set of example source files and guidance for building and running them across macOS, Linux and Windows.

Table of contents

• Purpose
• Prerequisites
• Building and running
• Visual Studio Code recommendations
• Helpful tips

Purpose

This folder is intended as a minimal, opinionated setup for practicing modern C++ (C++17/C++20). Files are intentionally small so you can focus on concepts, not tooling.

Prerequisites

• A C++ compiler: GCC, Clang, or MSVC (for Windows).
• On macOS: VSCode and Homebrew-installed clang/gcc.
• On Linux: g++ or clang++ from your distribution package manager.
• Recommended language standard: C++17 or C++20.

Build & run (examples)

Build with clang++ or g++:

clang++ -std=c++20 Main.cc -o myprogram
# or
g++ -std=c++20 Main.cc -o myprogram

./myprogram

For the library example in day3/Lib, you can compile and run both files in one command:

cd day3/Lib && clang++ -std=c++17 main.cc lib.cc -o main && ./main

If your file is named main.cpp instead, use that filename in the command above. Replace -std=c++20 with -std=c++17 if you prefer C++17 compatibility.

Notes for Windows (MSVC)

Using MSVC from Visual Studio or the Developer Command Prompt:

cl /std:c++17 /EHsc Main.cc
.

Visual Studio Code

Recommended: install Visual Studio Code and these extensions for a smooth editing and build experience.

• C/C++ (Microsoft)
• C/C++ Runner (franneck94) — quick build/run actions
• CodeLLDB or the MSVC debugger (for debugging support)

Add (or override) workspace settings in .vscode/settings.json to target the language standard used:

{
  "C_Cpp_Runner.cppStandard": "c++20",
  "C_Cpp.default.cppStandard": "c++20"
}

C/C++ Runner — common keybindings

• Compile (Build) single file: Ctrl+Alt+B (Windows/Linux)
• Run (Execute) single file: Ctrl+Alt+R (Windows/Linux)

On macOS those actions are available too — key combinations are shown in VSCode's Command Palette or in the extension documentation. (If you added the extension's screenshot, it will appear under ./media/.)

Use MSVC with C/C++ Runner

To enable MSVC for the runner, add this to .vscode/settings.json:

{
  "C_Cpp_Runner.useMsvc": true
}

Helpful tips

• Keep examples single-file when starting out — it simplifies compilation and debugging.
• Use -Wall -Wextra -Wpedantic (GCC/Clang) to enable helpful warnings.
• If you hit build errors, try compiling from the terminal first to see full diagnostics.

Contributing / Next steps

Feel free to add new exercise files under this folder. If you want, I can:

• Add a small Makefile or CMakeLists.txt for building multiple examples.
• Add GitHub Actions to run a compile check on push.

Tell me which you'd like and I will implement it.