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README for CCCC versions 3.2.x

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This is a maintenance update of the last (sourceforge) release of the program CCCC (C and C++ Code Counter). This software performs analysis and reports metrics on source code written in C, C++ and Java. The languages Ada83 and Ada95, which were supported in previous versions are presently not supported (stay tuned for updates). The original source is still on sourceforge; the new site for CCCC development is: https://github.com/sarnold/cccc and for current documentation see: http://sarnold.github.io/cccc/

CCCC is a command line tool, originally implemented for Linux and other POSIX-style platforms, but also buildable on the Win32 platform. Files to be analyzed are listed (typically on the command line, although support does exist for the list of files to be read from standard input. The program analyzes the files and generates a one or more reports in HTML or XML format on the content.

This distribution is intended to be a single package containing everything which is required to compile and install CCCC on either a POSIX or Win32 platform. Whereas previous distributions contained only a single directory, containing the source code of CCCC, this distribution is divided into a number of subdirectories, with the following contents:

Current versions should be installed via ebuild or built using the makefile, however, in earlier versions (3.pre-*) the recommended way of building the software was by using the BAT and SH scripts in the top directory of the distribution as appropriate for your platform. On Win32, the script build_w32vc.bat builds the software with Microsoft Visual C++ version 5 or 6 (locations within the script may need to be modified according to which you have and whether it is installed at the default position in the filesystem). On Linux and similar platforms the shell script build_posixgcc.sh should still work.

As of the last upstream release (ver 3.1.4) the reference build tool for the Win32 platform is the freely distributed Microsoft Visual C++ Toolkit 2003. As this toolkit does not contain a 'make' style program the script build_w32vct2003.bat has been written which automates all parts of the build.

If you wish to try the Visual Studio integration, there are some additional steps to perform. Within Visual Studio, select menu option "Tools/Customize", then click on the "Macros and AddIns" tab. Within this control, click on the "Browse" button, change the file type from ".dsm" to ".dll", browse to the directory C:\Program Files\CCCC, and select the CcccDevStudioAddIn.dll file before pressing "OK". This should cause Visual Studio to load the add-in, and a tool bar should appear with four different icons containing the text "C4" and six white icons. The fourth of the "C4" icons has a device like a steering wheel on it and is used to configure the add-in. Press this icon and a dialog box should appear containing 8 strings, of which the first should read "C:\Program Files\CCCC\CCCC.EXE" and the next should contain some path to Internet Explorer (IEXPLORE.EXE). Verify that the path to IE is valid (or substitute a path to Netscape, Mozilla, Opera or any other HTML browser according to your tastes).

The add-in can now be used to run CCCC on either the current file (the "C4" icon with a "f" subscript), all files in the current active project ("C4" with a "p" subscript), or all files in any project in the current workspace ("C4" with a "w" subscript). The add-in can also have up to 6 other commands set in the configuration dialog defined above, which will be bound to the six blank icons on the toolbar. Each command will run in character mode and standard output from each should be captured and redirected to the "Macros" tab in the Visual Studio Output window. This may be useful for programs which generate messages in the same format as the Visual Studio compiler error messages or Find in Files, as conformance to this format allows Visual Studio to implement the convenient "jump to source line" behaviour. I have on my list of issues for CCCC to convert the parser syntax error messages to this format, but it hasn't happened yet. The add-in is experimental at this stage. I am aware of some issues with projects in locations with spaces in the path, and I have also found that the logic I am using to deduce the home directories of .dsp and .dsw files is not always correct.

The add-in requires use of MFC libraries which are not provided as a part of Microsoft Visual C++ Toolkit 2003, hence it is not built by the build_w32vct2003.bat script, however the add-in should still be buildable using Visual C++ or Visual Studio 5.0 or 6.0 (and is any case useless to developers who don't have and IDE of this kind).

As well as the addin, the current version includes a directory which contains a script to build a wizard-style installer for the program under Win32. The binary release provides Windows start menu access to a DOS prompt set up with an environment to enable CCCC to be run easily, and also provides a shortcut to the HTML documentation. The installer can be built from the supplied scripts using the splendid free Inno Setup and Extensions packages by Martijn Laan (Inno Setup) and Jordan Russell (extensions), available from http://www.jrsoftware.org.

Previous versions of CCCC have been released like PCCTS into the public domain with no restrictions, other than the pious hope that should anyone base a derivative work on it I will be given due credit. The current version is released under the GNU Public License (including the bundled PCCTS source).

The upcoming 3.1.5 release will be a maintenance release to clean up the build and makefile config (enabling parallel make) and fix a build error with recent gcc. The pccts build target "mini" builds only the tools required to build cccc, while the make target "pccts" builds the complete toolset, and "all" will build cccc and run the tests ("metrics" and "docs" targets should be obvious).

SLA: Among other things, I'm grateful that Tim chose such a cool thesis, and also produced some useful open source code that rarely seems to exist outside of (expensive) commercial engineering tools. It has a simple CLI and other support like Jenkins plugins. Use it to find out your own complexity metrics. You might be surprised...

The above updates by Stephen L Arnold.

Notes from the original author

CCCC was originally developed as a proof-of-concept tool for some ideas relating to software metrics which I was investigating as an academic research project. I have now completed the project and been awarded my PhD.

With this release, I am choosing to declare the project in a dormant state. I have no plans to do further releases, either to add new features or to correct existing defects. I am happy to provide advice to users of CCCC via email, and I encourage all users to exercise the rights granted them under the GPL to tinker with the code if this helps the software to meet their needs better.

I am grateful to a number of people for assistance on this project, including Terence Parr and his co-workers, and Tom Moog for the development and ongoing maintenance of the excellent PCCTS tool; my academic supervisor, Dr Thomas O'Neill; a number of developers who have contributed source patches; and many people who have mailed me with constructive suggestions or merely to confirm that they were using the tool. Feedback on the value or otherwise of CCCC will always be welcome.

Tim Littlefair (tim_littlefair At hotmail.com) updated January 2005

This and past distributions of CCCC and related tools should be available for the forseeable future from https://github.com/sarnold/cccc as well as the original home at http://cccc.sourceforge.net