How do I create a library?

Question

Let\'s say I have 10 *.hpp and *.cpp files that I need to compile a code. I know that I will need those same files for many different codes. Can I create a \"package\" with

Answer 1

Yes and no.

You can write an include-all header so that #include "myLib.h" is sufficient, because you include all those headers through the single header. However, that does not mean that the single include is enough to have the content of the 10 '.cpp' files linked to your project automagically. You will have to compile them into a library and link that single library (instead of all the object files) to the projects that use "myLib.h". Library binaries come as static and dynamic libraries, the files are typically named .lib and .dll (windows) and .a and .so (linux) for static and dynamic libraries, respectively.

How to build and link such libraries depends on your build system, you might want to loke those terms up on the net.

One alternative is to get rid of the .cpp files by defininig all the functions in the headers. That way you won't have to link the additional library, but it comes at the cost of increased build times, because the compiler will have to process all those functions every time you include the header directly or indirectly into one of your translation units.