I’m looking for a good resource for learning about good API design for C++ libraries, looking at shared objects/dlls etc. There are many resources on writing nice APIs, nice classes, templates and so on at source level, but barely anything about putting things together in shared libs and executables. Books like Large-Scale C++ Software Design by John Lakos are interesting but massively outdated.
What I’m looking for is advice i.e. on handling templates. With templates in my API I often end up with library code in my executable (or other library) so if I fix a bug in there I can’t simply roll out the new library but have to recompile and redistribute all clients of that code. (and yes, I know some solutions like trying to instantiate at least the most common versions inside the library etc.)
I’m also looking for other caveats and things to mind for keeping binary compatibility while working on C++ libraries.
Is there a good website or book on such things?
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There is in-fact a book that is precisely what you seek. It is call, appropriately enough, API Design for C++.The book’s website has source code from the book and Errata as well.
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This is pretty much impossible. The simple fact is that sometimes, you need the compiler to do a job, and you can’t just magic that necessity away. There is no function that can make std::vector not a header-only library. The compiler can make many magics work, but you can’t have them without invoking it, and that’s a fact of life.
Here’s what you can do: don’t use templates where you don’t need them. Here’s what you can’t do: anything else.
The simple fact is that recompiling with the new version really isn’t that big of a burden compared to the advantages of performance, safety, and functionality you can get with statically typed libraries.
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