C++17 - Iterating Problems

This repository contains C++ code (up to C++17) to solve basic problems creatively and the content associated to it to produce a PDF book or a mkdocs-material site. See here, where you can read the content and download the PDFs.

• https://mementum.github.io/cpp17-iterating-problems

Using the Code

You need make (GNU Make) and gcc, version 8 or greater (the project has used GCC 11.4.0). The Makefile* restrict the standard to be C++17. If you are using something else you will need to modify the building and execution system

The code can be found under the code directory. There you can do:

• make all and all challenges will be built
• make ab and all the solutions for the challenge with the numeration ab will be be built.

Challenges are named using this convention: ab-fancy-name.

Each challenge has several solutions named like: fancy-name-xy.cpp. Inside the folder of each challenge you can run this:

• make all to compile, run and verify each solution
• make xy to compile, run and verify solution xy.

Both at the coderoot level and inside each challenge you can simply run make (or make help) to see the options and supported by the Makefile (like for example. show, showoutput, showdiff) and what they do. Most of the solutions are meant to succeed. A couple are meant to show a concept but fail.

Generating the Content

There is also a Makefile at the root of the project to generate the PDFs and the mkdocs-material site. Running make (or make help) will show all options and a help text for each of it. The most used commands in this project (used by the author of course) are

• make pdf-prepress - Generates a PDF ready for the press, including front and back covers. Amazon KDP takes that same content without the covers (make pdf-kdp) plus a separate file for the covers to create a printed book.

• make mkdocs - Prepares the content for the mkdocs site

• make mkdocs-serve - Runs the local mkdocs HTTP server in the background, to see the changes every time make mkdocs is run.

The mkdocs functionality is managed in a virtual environment with pdm, but that is something the Makefile checks. If you have no pdm but mkdocs-material is installed in your system, things will work.

Some Explaining

As a hobby programmer I always try to keep tabs with the latest C++ developments, having learnt the language before C++98 was a standard. But reading is not the same as practicing by writing code and embedding knowledge by overcoming challenges, being finally able to assimilate the concepts.

Back in 2016 I already brought myself I bit up to date, up to C++14, by solving problems on the now defunct CodeEval. However, it was more of a personal competition by solving the same problems in Python and C++. The C++ solutions could have been plain-C solutions in most cases, except for the usage of std::cout and std::cin.

Looking forward to using C++20, and even C++23, I looked for new platform and HackerRank seemed well suited until two things stopped me.

• HackerRank looks like abandoned and the C++20 support is non-existent, even if listed in the drop-down menus.

  On the positive side that means the code editor is not locked to just editing a plain function.

• Solving the C++ problems felt initially again like writing C++ code and the goal was not to solve the problems, but to learn C++ concepts.

Furthermore, by only writing code I was just spitting out code and not really burning knowledge and concepts in the EPROM. Yes in the year 2025 it is clear AI is going to replace all of us but as human being I still feel the need to challenge myself, learn and achieve my goals.

And my own version of Literate Programming was conceived with these objectives

• Remain on C++17 as supported by HackerRank. There will be time for updates to C++20, C++23 and C++26 when it is out.

• Re-think how simple problems like "Hello, World!" can be reworked and evolved to something challenging to be able to apply C++ concepts.

• Given that the problems have "input" and "output", focus (as much as possible) on Iterators to solve the challenge and the evolutions I create. (Hence the name "C++17 - Iterating Problems")

• Write about it, presenting to my line of thought to any potential reader and how I came to the solution and the subsequent evolutions of it.

I had already created a framework to write a book using markdown, with the help of the asciidoctor to generate fantastic PDF versions and adding some little tinkering with a custom python pre/post-processing engine. It was a matter of making some adaptations to be able to also produce a nice website with Material for MkDocs.

Feel to point out any mistake in my C++ code, blatant errors or anything you think is worth telling. But be lenient and remember I am not a professional programmer, just a poor soul trying to improve.

Have fun!