Question

C/C++ :: In a previous question, i've asked if it was a good idea to #include ALL sources in one big file and compile that single file, and now I know it isn't.

What is the best way to engineer a large C/C++ program in general?

Answer 1

autoconf and automake?

Answer 2

but that's if you have a large development enviroment

Answer 3

or using "make"
sorry for the chain responses lol

Answer 4

I like cmake a lot. It's trivial to whip up a cmake configuration file for a small project, but still not difficult to extend it as the project grows. It can generate *nix makefiles, MSVC solutions and XCode projects, integrates well with Qt and other frameworks, and has good documentation.

More generally, the answer to your question is modularity. Identify things that belong together and develop them as a library for a particular purpose from the start. Imagine someone else using the library in a project different from yours and try to anticipate problems they might have with your libraries' API. This will make sure code for each purpose (each library) stays contained and maintainable. Splitting things up into libraries is one of the best things you can do for maintainability and reusability - and it helps build times, too ;)