C++ High Performance Guide

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Learn measurable C++20 performance engineering through runnable examples, benchmarks, and a VitePress-powered learning site.

Why this repository exists

This project is a practical guide to common C++ performance topics that are easy to talk about but harder to validate:

• modern CMake and preset-driven builds
• memory and cache layout decisions
• modern C++ performance patterns
• SIMD and vectorization
• concurrency and lock-free basics
• profiling and benchmark-driven reasoning

Every major topic is meant to be readable, buildable, and measurable.

What you can explore

Area	What it covers
examples/01-cmake-modern/	modern CMake structure and anti-patterns
examples/02-memory-cache/	AOS vs SOA, false sharing, alignment, prefetch
examples/03-modern-cpp/	constexpr, move semantics, reserve, ranges
examples/04-simd-vectorization/	auto-vectorization, intrinsics, SIMD wrappers
examples/05-concurrency/	atomics, lock-free queue, OpenMP
docs/	bilingual learning path, profiling guide, troubleshooting, reference
openspec/	spec-driven development workflow and change history

Quick start

git clone https://github.com/LessUp/cpp-high-performance-guide.git
cd cpp-high-performance-guide

cmake --preset=release
cmake --build build/release

Run one benchmark:

./build/release/examples/02-memory-cache/aos_soa_bench

Validation commands

cmake --preset=debug && cmake --build build/debug && ctest --preset=debug
cmake --preset=release && cmake --build build/release && ctest --preset=release

cmake --preset=asan && cmake --build build/asan && ctest --preset=asan
cmake --preset=tsan && cmake --build build/tsan && ctest --preset=tsan
cmake --preset=ubsan && cmake --build build/ubsan && ctest --preset=ubsan

Documentation and learning path

• Docs site: https://lessup.github.io/cpp-high-performance-guide/
• Quick start: docs/en/getting-started/quickstart.md
• Learning path: docs/en/guides/learning-path.md
• Profiling guide: docs/en/guides/profiling-guide.md
• Chinese entry: README.zh-CN.md and docs/zh/

Development workflow

This repository uses OpenSpec for non-trivial changes.

1. Read the affected capability specs in openspec/specs/.
2. Create or update a change under openspec/changes/<change-id>/.
3. Implement tasks in dependency order.
4. Run preset-driven validation.
5. Use /review before merge for non-trivial work.
6. Archive completed changes.

The repository also keeps AI tool guidance in:

• AGENTS.md
• CLAUDE.md
• .github/copilot-instructions.md

Tech stack

• Language: C++20
• Build: CMake 3.22+, Ninja
• Testing: Google Test, RapidCheck
• Benchmarking: Google Benchmark
• Docs: VitePress + GitHub Pages
• Profiling: perf, FlameGraph, Valgrind, VTune

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for the contributor workflow, hooks setup, and OpenSpec process.