Getting CMake to do what you want can be frustrating, painful and time consuming. It doesn't have to be this way...

"Ugh thank you sir. Spent 2 days dealing with vcpkg issues and of course there's a much more simple way 😅. Much appreciated!"

@killacam2971's comment on one of my CMake videos

Programmers know that horrible feeling. You're trying to achieve something that should be simple, and simply cannot figure out how to do it. Hours turn into days, and then finally you find the solution. And yes, that solution was simple. Big sigh of relief!

That was me with CMake. CMake is a powerful build tool for C/C++, but can be an absolute pain to use. Scouring the internet for hours each time you need to modify your CMakelists.txt file is hard work. Even worse, you often end up learning the "wrong" (old) way of doing things. There are plenty of old CMake tutorials and examples out there...

The "Learn Modern CMake by Example" book/course will save you hours of time and frustration, by teaching you the correct (modern) ways to perform the most common build tasks.

The CMake Tutorial is deliberately short, and focused sharply on making CMake do what you need it to. It doesn't cover every nook and cranny (of CMake), nor does it bog you down with endless theory and backstory. Your time is valuable, so it's designed to get you up and running quickly.

No drowning you with details on every single CMake feature (that's what the official documentation is for). It's got only the bits you're most likely to need, which have been organized for fast learning.

A CMake course could set you back $1350 USD (link). Yes, it's a valuable skill. The CMake Tutorial won't cost you anywhere near as much. Not even half! I know you won't be making the big bucks at the start of your career, and I also know what it's like to be scratching out a living. So, The CMake Tutorial has been priced so it's affordable to those who are getting started.

NOTE: Contents are provisional, and could change. Suggestions welcome...

Hi, I'm Hans, and I have decades of experience writing software in C, C++, and other languages too. For the longest time, I avoided CMake like the plague. I found the syntax to be cryptic, the documentation to be useless, and the error messages to be unintelligible.

That all changed when a project forced me to try CMake again. To my pleasant surprise, modern CMake was a lot better. It was easier to use, and both the errors and documentation were easier to understand.

The learning curve is still on the steep side, especially with a large volume of outdated tutorials out there. So, I've taken the time to learn the right way to learn modern CMake. 

I created this book/course because I didn't find a resource to quickly learn the essentials of modern CMake.