inline-cpp

inline-cpp

Inline C++ with Node.js

Installation

npm install --save inline-cpp

or

npm install -g inline-cpp

Was tested on Linux and Windows. MacOS should also work.

Usage

// test.js
const compile = require('inline-cpp');

const hello = compile `
  String func(const CallbackInfo& info) {
    return String::New(info.Env(), "Hello world from C++!");
  }
`

console.log(hello())

Now run it:

➜ node test.js
Hello world from C++!

The first time you run the script, it takes longer time to execute.
For each inline block of code, a native module will be generated, compiled with node-gyp and loaded dynamically.
The next time you run the script, it will reuse previous build results (unless you change the inline C++ code). The build results are cached.

For more C++ code examples, see node-addon-api

API

inline-cpp supports several invocation methods.

Pass some code as string to build it with default options.

const InlineCPP = require('inline-cpp');
InlineCPP('code')

You can also pass code using tagged template syntax.

InlineCPP `code`

Pass an object to create a new compiler with custom options.
Options will get passed to node-gyp target.

const customCompiler = InlineCPP({ ... })

Disclaimer

This is just a prototype. I created this to check the general concept.
You're welcome to contribute! Here are some ideas:

• Use node-gyp directly, instead of invoking node node-gyp.js
• Improve error handling/reporting
• Parse/Find all functions in the block of code, add them to exports
• Create advanced usage examples
• Cleanup unused modules from cache periodically
• ...

Debugging

You can enable debug output by setting env. variable: DEBUG=inline-cpp