CppGen - Ugur Buyukdurak

Project Background

Project Definition: A project that aims to shorten C++ development time by automatic code generation. This project targets people who don't have access to full-featured C++ IDEs on the market. C++ language has some strict syntax rules with which not everybody can do everything right every time. This, of course, would mean compiler errors and frustrated programmers. Even if a programmer typed everything correctly, he would still be wasting his time with extra typing because of C++ header and implementation file mechanism. More typing means more work, and the more it gets longer, the more mistakes can be made along the way. Automatic code generation zeros the chance of making mistakes when writing implementation(.cpp) of a declaration file(.h) unless base header file is wrong.

Starting Point: I originate this idea from CS 240 Data Structures Class where I had to code in a complete Linux environment without a full featured IDE. There was no syntax highlighting, type checking or anything similar. There was just a raw text editor and a command line compiler. Compiler would always complain I typed something wrong, and say I needed to fix something. Problems were mainly caused by some variables or methods of a class instance that didn't match what it was declared as in another file. So I thought, generating some source code from base code would ease my job a lot further so I could focus on what I was doing.

The Real Work: Although I had the idea that generating cpp (C++ implementation files) from header files would be great, implementing the project was a serious challenge for me. Even though I had the idea in mind, there were lots of gaps in my mind that had to be filled. Was I going to implement my own compiler, or was I going to use existing tools to achieve what I wanted? If I wanted to implement my own compiler, how could I do that or if I wanted to use existing tools what were they?

The real work has never been coding since coding is all about knowing particular syntax rules and general flow of a programming language with some fundamental understanding. Real challenge was to figure out ways in which intended goal could be accomplished which required long hours wasted for finding right tools.

Another big challenge after figuring out how something could be done was to understand how these "right tools" worked. With several months spent trying to understand a Python library and a program both related to dumping XML of a C++ file and reading it the XML dump file, I was finally ready to do something useful and real. It wasn't "in mind" anymore. It had already gone out of mind.

After 3-4 months of research and understanding, I was finally able to code the project. The time it took for me to code the project was just "one" month. It was actually much shorter but I had other things I did in the meantime.

To develop something is a challenge but to deploy it is another challenge. By knowing just pure code doesn't help to use an operating system efficiently and correctly. Computers are all about operating systems. So it is crucial to know to use them in a way that fits your needs. I had completed courses and received two certification for Linux System Administration before I ever needed to deploy my project on the web. The skills I have gained during the System Administration really helped me manage my project efficiently. I was able to make it online in just one day.

The point I am trying to make is that it wasn't hard coding or deploying the project, but hard part was the time passed researching and learning and gathering all these different things to bring one meaningful thing into existence.

What I learned: I had the chance to develop my System Administration skills a lot since I had to deal with ssh, Linux File System, Web Servers and the Linux operating system itself. Besides those, I also had to have fundamental understanding of DNS system, TCP/IP interface, Python Web Frameworks, Python templating Engines to create automated text, several Python libraries, so forth and so on. But most importantly I have realized that hardest part is never coding but rather analyzing.

One important thing that I didn't mention before is importance of a design flow of a program. It is important to design a program in a way in which it can be extended and modified easily. Time, requirements and demands all change and so should the program without a need to recreate it from the beginning.

Reliability: CppGen is reliable in a way that it doesn't implement its own compiler but rather uses recognized tools used in computer world to make its own thing happen. There is little chance that building blocks that make CppGen will cause problems from the ground.

Main Goals of the Project:

-To create a world known website used by programmers, universities, students and all alike around the world.

-To contain no commercial purpose. Everything should be open source.

-To join hackathons, and be recognized.

-To make a website or a tool that has the capacity to be realized by authorities within the tech world.

-To receive some donation or funding if possible.

-To replace some of functionalities provided by commercial IDEs

-To be up to date.

-To create a functional and fast website without complexity.

-To be reliable.

-To be able to implement my own compiler(if at all) at some point rather than using already made tools.

-To feel that I didn't go to university for nothing.

-To know that it completely belongs to me with nobody got involved in the project besides

Before and After

How will this project fit into Senior Project?: Senior Project is a way for students to prove their undergraduate education means more than just a simple diploma, it requires students to build things which require combinations of different set of skills gained during their undergraduate program combined with their creativity. cppgen already has that. To build it, I needed to be more than a student, a programmer, a system administrator or a student.

Where am I?: Since many parts of this project had already been done before senior year even started, this project is not going to start from ground for the Senior Project. My website has already had its features. It has multi-threading execution, file upload, generation of couple files in a particular format and many more. It is in working condition but not really usable and practical yet. For detail FAQ page can be read at cppgen.com/faq.

Where will I be heading to?: I've already implemented many major goals I had had in mind. Along the way I have learned a lot as to what to expect, project management, possible failures, possible problems and differences between theory and practice. But that doesn't mean I don't have other plans. There are many more lessons to learn from not giving up and going on. Each step I will take will become another lesson.

My main intention is to make my existing website more usable, beautiful and famous. To make that I need to have a plan.

Things may/may not change: There are some building blocks that cppgen relies on but may change. One of them is gcc-xml program which is used for generating XML dumps of a C++ file. Although it provides project's base functionality, newer technologies should be sought and their compatibility should be checked with the existing project. Possible alternatives are:

GCC-XML: Cppgen is already built with gcc-xml. Source files uploaded to server are passed to gccxml, then temporary xml representations are read by a python library pygccxml. The problem with gcc-xml is it is old technology(supports C++98 standard) and doesn't follow newer standards. It is now succeeded by CastXML.

CastXML --> gcc-xml is replaced by castXML, it also supports C++11 standard. Problem here is that gccxml is fully compatible with python library pygccxml. I am not sure if CastXML is also compatible. I had contacted their implementors at some time ago. I will do so again to have some information.

Clang++ --> said to used to have XML dumping property. But not anymore. Clang still has AST(Abstract Syntax Tree) with itself. It just doesn't produce XML representation. If there is a way to parse Clang++ AST, then this is another option to use.

Things with Priority:

Will be continued