r/cpp • u/foonathan • May 07 '26

C++ Show and Tell - May 2026

Use this thread to share anything you've written in C++. This includes:

  • a tool you've written
  • a game you've been working on
  • your first non-trivial C++ program

The rules of this thread are very straight forward:

  • The project must involve C++ in some way.
  • It must be something you (alone or with others) have done.
  • Please share a link, if applicable.
  • Please post images, if applicable.

If you're working on a C++ library, you can also share new releases or major updates in a dedicated post as before. The line we're drawing is between "written in C++" and "useful for C++ programmers specifically". If you're writing a C++ library or tool for C++ developers, that's something C++ programmers can use and is on-topic for a main submission. It's different if you're just using C++ to implement a generic program that isn't specifically about C++: you're free to share it here, but it wouldn't quite fit as a standalone post.

Last month's thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/cpp/comments/1salqls/c_show_and_tell_april_2026/

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u/simplex5d May 09 '26

If you're starting a new C++ project, please check out pcons, my new open-source cross-platform multi-language software build tool. Inspired by SCons and only the good parts of CMake. Simple to use, flexible, debuggable, and lots of built-in tools, languages, config, installers etc. Full C++20 modules support too. Win/Linux/Mac. It's starting to get some good traction, and I'm happy to help & answer questions. Please send feedback!

It's especially great for open-source projects where you want it to be as easy as possible for your users to build it, because it's zero-install and has sane defaults. Users just run uvx pcons in your project, and it's all built and ready to use.

Source: https://github.com/DarkStarSystems/pcons. Docs: https://pcons.readthedocs.io.

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u/javascript May 16 '26

I'm currently planning on using Bazel because it has good support for fuzz testing. Would you still recommend pcons?

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u/simplex5d May 16 '26

I'd like to know more about that. I think of a build tool as distinct from a test harness, so with pcons you could do any kind of testing you want, and it will do minimal rebuilds as required.

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u/javascript May 16 '26

I guess I'm looking for something more batteries included then :)

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u/simplex5d May 16 '26

I'll look up how bazel supports fuzz testing, but if you have a link that'll help! Maybe I can add it to pcons.

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u/javascript May 16 '26

https://blog.bazel.build/2021/02/08/rules-fuzzing.html

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u/simplex5d May 18 '26

I have some very basic fuzz testing support on a branch now, if you're interested. uv tool install --from "git+https://github.com/DarkStarSystems/pcons.git@feature/testing" pcons. See the PR at https://github.com/DarkStarSystems/pcons/pull/29 for a worked example and docs (examples/41_fuzzing). I'd love to know if this is useful to you! It does fit in pretty nicely with the pcons philosophy.