Managing the process of compilation
As programmers and build engineers, we must also consider other aspects of compilation such as the time it takes to complete and the ease with which we can identify and rectify mistakes made during the solution-building process.
Reducing compilation time
In busy projects that require frequent recompilations (possibly several times an hour), it's paramount to ensure the compilation process is as quick as possible. This not only affects the efficiency of your code-compile-test loop but also your concentration and workflow. Luckily, C++ is already pretty good at managing compilation time, thanks to separate translation units. CMake will take care to only recompile sources that were impacted by recent changes. However, if we need to improve things even more, there are a couple of techniques we can use: header precompilation and unity builds.
Precompilation of headers
Header files (.h) are included in the translation unit by the preprocessor before...
