The First CMake Theory and Practice Video Tutorial is Here!

CMake is a very useful cross-platform automation build tool that programmers have encountered to some extent. Here are some comments about CMake:

• CMake no longer makes you feel close to collapse when building projects
• Write once, run everywhere
• An automation build tool that you can’t stop using once you start

What is CMake?

CMake stands for “Cross Platform MAke”.

• An open-source cross-platform build system used to manage software builds without relying on a specific compiler
• Requires writing a CMakeLists.txt file to customize the entire build process (requires some learning time)
• Can automate the compilation of source code, create libraries, generate executable binaries, etc.

What are the advantages of CMake?

CMake is commonly used for projects built with C/C++/Java. The CMakeLists.txt file contains the entire process for building the project, allowing for automation with minimal effort. It also configures third-party libraries, making it incredibly convenient! Porting code to different platforms is also very easy, eliminating the hassle of “setting up environments and linking libraries”. To summarize the advantages of CMake:

• Open-source, released under a BSD-like license
• Cross-platform usage, generating the necessary localized Makefiles and project files based on the target user’s platform, such as Unix Makefiles or Windows Visual Studio projects
• Can manage large projects, such as OpenCV, Caffe, MySQL Server. It’s worth mentioning that most projects in the fields of SLAM and 3D reconstruction are managed using CMake.
• Automated build compilation, with CMake providing high efficiency for project builds.
• Saves developers a lot of time, essential for engineering practice.

How to learn CMake?

Projects like SLAM and 3D reconstruction are basically managed using CMake. If you don’t understand CMake, it can bring many risks to your engineering practice. Many people only know how to use CMakeLists.txt written by others to compile and build, and when they encounter related errors during learning and debugging, they often feel at a loss. Building a project from scratch is even more challenging.

There is very little introduction to CMake available online, especially explanations that are easy to understand for beginners with plenty of examples. Therefore, I have created a series of instructional videos “CMake Theory and Practice”, which may be the only introductory video tutorial on CMake theory and practice available online. It consists of 9 short and exquisite videos. After watching, you should be able to understand and modify CMakeLists.txt, and even write your own to build projects. The outline is as follows:

The “CMake Theory and Practice” video series has been published in the knowledge community: “Learning SLAM from Scratch”, and half of it has been updated.

In addition to CMake, there are a lot of Q&A and learning materials related to SLAM and 3D vision in the community, with plenty of high-quality content produced daily. More down-to-earth, practical series tutorials will be launched in the future. For more information about the knowledge community: Visual SLAM text/video courses + Q&A + full planning of learning routes, a must-see for SLAMers!

If someone guides you on your learning journey, it can be twice as effective with half the effort. Daily communication with people in the circle (even just observing) can also be immensely beneficial. To do a good job, one must first sharpen their tools. Without further ado, welcome to join!

If you want to learn “CMake Theory and Practice”, SLAM, and 3D vision, join now to get a discount of 30 yuan, valid until March 16th at midnight, limited spots available, first come first served, full refund within 3 days if not satisfied.

The community currently has2400+ people. It includes nearly 3 years of accumulated valuable content in the fields of 3D reconstruction, robotics, and SLAM, including a large amount of text, video tutorials, internship/campus recruitment/social recruitment opportunities, written test interview questions and analysis, troubleshooting, and the latest open-source papers/codes/datasets in the field (for detailed introduction, see below). You can also join exclusive WeChat groups for fans/community internal resources, just a few cents a day to quickly access our quality technical community for exchange and learning, whether you are a beginner or already a professional in the industry, you will benefit greatly!

Welcome to support the exclusive video course: How to Truly Understand Visual SLAM?

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