Summary

This library contains various C++ classes and snippets I've found myself in need of as my experience grows (as well a the complexity of my projects). Keep reading for details.

Components

"Advanced Assert"

A collection of assert-like macros with two key differences from a regular C assert:

• the code you pass to the advanced assert macros (ending with _r) is executed in release build as well as debug;
• when assertion fails, a message can be printed or otherwise processed using a callback function that you supply.

Like regular assert, the assert*_r macros will not trigger the abort() function or display an error message box when assertion fails in release build. You can set your error message handler with AdvancedAssert::setLoggingFunc(const std::function<void (const char*)>& func).

So, the "advanced" assert macros:

• don't alter the code execution between debug and release builds;
• call the optional failed assertion handler (useful for logging);
• behave like the standard assert otherwise.

I use these macros instead of the regular assert in my projects as it significantly simplifies debugging release builds by analyzing log files. Additionally, assert_and_return* macros produce nice and compact code in cases where you need to check for an error that's not expected during normal workflow and return from the current function. The assert_and_return* macros let you significantly simplify and compactify routine error-checking code. Compare

bool doWork()
{
    if (!f1())
    {
        std::cout << "Error calling f1()";
        return false;
    }

    if (!f2())
    {
        std::cout << "Error calling f2()";
        return false;
    }

    if (!f3())
    {
        std::cout << "Error calling f3()";
        return false;
    }
    
    return true;
}

to the functionally identical code using the assert_r macros:

#include "assert/advanced_assert.h"

bool doWork()
{
    assert_and_return_r(f1(), false);
    assert_and_return_r(f2(), false);
    assert_and_return_r(f3(), false);
    
    return true;
}

WARNING: The error logging callback is a static data member of the AdvancedAssert class. Make sure you understand the implications for projects with dynamic libraries (.so / .dll / .dylib etc.).

compiler/compiler_warnings_control.h

This header contains macros for suppressing compiler warnings for the specific parts of the source file in as platform-independent way as possible.

The most common use case:

#include "compiler/compiler_warnings_control.h"
    
// The following header files belong to a 3rd-party library.
// These headers produce various compiler warnings.
// So I simply wrap them in warning suppression macros:

DISABLE_COMPILER_WARNINGS
#include "libusb.h"
#include "zlib.h"
RESTORE_COMPILER_WARNINGS

system/ctimeelapsed.h

This is a cross-platform class for measuring wall time between two or more events with high accuracy (as opposed to the clock() function that reports CPU time and is hugely inaccurate for most use cases). Currently implemented for Windows, OS X and Linux. Arbitrary resolution - the return value is converted to any std::chrono type supplied as the template parameter (ms by default). The internal accuracy is at least μs or better. Can be paused and resumed.

Threading

CInterruptableThread

A simple worker thread class - a convenience wrapper around std::thread with support for graceful interruption of the thread function. For that purpose, the termination flag (atomic<bool>) is exposed via the terminationFlag() method that the thread function may poll.

CExecutionQueue

A thread-safe queue for std::function items (e. g. executable code). The main use case is queuing execution in a different thread, e. g. a worker thread can use the queue to post UI actions on the UI thread.

CConsumerBlockingQueue

A general purpose (template item type) thread-safe queue with the main purpose of easily organizing pipelines by connecting multiple worker threads in series. CConsumerBlockingQueue::pop() blocks until an item is available (uses condition variable). Non-blocking try_pop method is also available.

CWorkerThread / CWorkerThreadPool

The CWorkerThread class is a worker thread that receives its work load from a CConsumerBlockingQueue. The CWorkerThread is not available directly, but only as a CWorkerThreadPool class of one or more threads. The thread pool spawns threads on demand rather than unconditionally - up to maxNumThreads.

CPeriodicExecutionThread

Another simple std::thread wrapper that executes the specified code every period_ms milliseconds.

Building

The companion header-only cpp-template-utils library is required.

• A compiler with C++ 0x/11 support is required (std::thread, lambda functions etc.).
• Windows: you can build using either Qt Creator or Visual Studio for IDE. Visual Studio 2013 or newer is required - v120 toolset or newer. Run qmake -tp vc -r to generate the solution for Visual Studio. I have not tried building with MinGW, but it should work as long as you enable C++ 11 support.
• Linux: open the project file in Qt Creator and build it.
• Mac OS X: You can use either Qt Creator (simply open the project in it) or Xcode (run qmake -r -spec macx-xcode and open the Xcode project that has been generated).

P. S. Even though I use qmake as the build system for personal convenience, none of the actual code in this library depends on Qt. Only the C++11 standard library is required. Building with a diffrent build system is trivial, use the Qt .pro and .pri files as a reference.