EECS 280 Tutorials

EECS 281 Project Setup

This tutorial walks through EECS 281 project setup using EECS 280 tutorials.

VS Code works great for EECS 281 projects. Just ask one of the IAs or GSIs who use VS Code if you need help.

Visual debugger

Set up your project in your visual debugger. We’ll use the project name p1-stats in this example, but your project name may be different. If your project has starter files, you’ll need the link from the project spec.

After you’re done, you should have a folder with a main file. Your files may be different.

$ tree p1-stats/
p1-stats/
├── main.cpp
    ...

$ make debug

Makefile

Next, we’ll add the EECS 281 Makefile.

$ ls
main.cpp

Download the EECS 281 Makefile.

$ wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/eecs281staff/Makefile/main/Makefile
$ make help
EECS281 Advanced Makefile Help
...

Edit these lines in the Makefile. Your values might be different, check the project spec for required file names.

UNIQNAME = not_awdeorio
# ...
IDENTIFIER  = copy_me_from_project_spec
# ...
PROJECTFILE = main.cpp
# ...
EXECUTABLE = main

Shortcut: You can skip updating PROJECTFILE if your main() function is in one of these filenames: main.cpp, project0.cpp, project1.cpp, project2.cpp, project3.cpp, project4.cpp, or EXECUTABLE.cpp.

If your project has additional dependencies, update the dependencies section at the bottom of the Makefile.

You should be able to compile and run your main file with debug symbols.

$ make debug
$ ./main_debug
hello world!

Arguments and options

Edit your main program (e.g., main.cpp) to parse command line options and print them. Copy this sample code.

#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <getopt.h> // TODO: Visual Studio users change to "xgetopt.h"
using namespace std;


int main(int argc, char * argv[]) {
  // TODO: Create a variable to store each option
  int verbose = 0;
  string output;

  // TODO: Update these options
  option long_options[] = {
    {"verbose", no_argument, nullptr, 'v'},
    {"output", required_argument, nullptr, 'o'},
    { nullptr, 0, nullptr, '\0' }
  };

  // Parse options (starts with '-')
  while (1) {
    // getopt_long stores the option index here
    int option_index = 0;

    // TODO: Modify "o:v" to include each of the chars from long_options above.
    // An option with a required argument is followed by ":".
    int c = getopt_long (argc, argv, "o:v", long_options, &option_index);

    // End of options
    if (c == -1) break;

    // TODO: Add a case for each option
    switch (c) {
    case 'o':
      output = optarg;
      break;
    case 'v':
      verbose++;
      break;
    default:
      cerr << "Error: TODO: Update this help string" << endl;
      return 1;
    }
  }

  // TODO: Use the options
  cout << "verbose = " << verbose << endl;
  cout << "output = " << output << endl;
}

Compile and run.

$ make debug
$ ./main_debug --verbose --output output.txt
verbose = 1
output = output.txt
$ ./main_debug -v -o output.txt
verbose = 1
output = output.txt
$ ./main_debug
verbose = 0
output = 

#include "xgetopt.h"
//#include <getopt.h> // REMOVE

$ ls
Makefile  main.cpp  xgetopt.h

Configure IDE

Configure your IDE to pass arguments and options when you debug.

In this example, you would configure the IDE arguments and options to include --verbose --output output.txt.

Version control

When you’re working alone version control is optional, but it provides benefits:

• Code backup
• Easy to try and revert ideas

Set up version control using the Version control tutorial. If you’ve used version control before on your computer, you’ll probably want to start with the Create a local repository section.

After you’re done, you should have a local repository with a “clean” status and your local repository should be connected to a remote GitHub repository.

$ git status
On branch main
Your branch is up-to-date with 'origin/main'.

nothing to commit, working tree clean
$ git remote -v
origin	https://github.com/awdeorio/p1-stats.git (fetch)
origin	https://github.com/awdeorio/p1-stats.git (push)

You should have a .gitignore file (instructions).

$ head .gitignore
This is a sample .gitignore file that's useful for C++ projects.
...