Section 1: Introducing CMake

Getting the basics right is critical to understanding the more advanced subjects and avoiding silly mistakes. This is where the majority of CMake users get in trouble: without a proper foundation, it's difficult to achieve the right outcome. No wonder. It's tempting to skip the introductory material and jump right in where the action is and get things done quickly. We address both points in this section by explaining the core topics of CMake and by hacking together a few lines of code to show what the simplest project looks like.

To build an appropriate mental context, we'll explain what CMake is exactly and how it does its job, along with what the command line is like. We'll talk about the different build stages and learn the language used to generate build systems. We'll also discuss CMake projects: what files they contain, how to approach their directory structure, and we'll explore their primary configuration.

This...