CppComplexNumbers

Small C++ experiments around complex numbers, Mandelbrot set membership, terminal color output, and a plotting demo.

The project is organized as testable libraries plus thin executable entrypoints, with CMake presets for reproducible local builds.

Targets

• Main: interactive Mandelbrot membership prompt for a user-provided complex value.
• Plotting: generates sampled function data or Mandelbrot-set image data and plots it through gnuplot.
• TestComplexNumbers: unit tests for the complex number type.
• TestMandelbrot: unit tests for Mandelbrot membership behavior.
• TestApps: unit tests for app-layer logic (main_app, plotting_app).

Requirements

• CMake 3.21+
• A C++20+ compiler (the build enables C++23 automatically when the toolchain supports it)
• Optional: gnuplot for the plotting demo

Build

cmake --preset default
cmake --build --preset default --parallel

This preset configures Unix Makefiles into .build/default and also generates a compilation database at:

• .build/default/compile_commands.json

Test

ctest --preset default --parallel

You can also run individual test executables from .build/default/bin/.

Coverage Build

cmake --preset coverage
cmake --build --preset coverage --parallel
ctest --preset coverage --parallel
./scripts/coverage_report.sh .build/coverage .build/coverage-report

The coverage preset enables compiler instrumentation flags (--coverage) for supported toolchains. The coverage script keeps generated .gcov files inside .build/coverage-report/gcov-files.

VS Code

The workspace includes ready-to-use tasks and debug configurations:

• Configure: CMake Configure (default)
• Build: Build Interactive Mandelbrot, Build Plotting App, Build Complex Number Unit Tests, Build App Logic Unit Tests
• Run (No Debugger, from Run/Debug menu): Run Interactive Mandelbrot (No Debugger)
• Debug (LLDB): Debug Interactive Mandelbrot, Run Plotting App (Interactive GNUplot Window), Run Mandelbrot Plot (Interactive GNUplot Window), Run Plotting App (No GNUplot, Non-interactive), Run Complex Number Unit Tests, Run App Logic Unit Tests

The interactive plotting launch passes --gnuplot; without that flag the Plotting executable stays non-interactive. Use --mandelbrot to render a Mandelbrot image.

For Mandelbrot zooming, the plotting executable accepts viewport flags:

• --xmin, --xmax, --ymin, --ymax
• --width, --height, --max-iterations

Example:

.build/default/bin/Plotting --mandelbrot --gnuplot --width 1200 --height 900 --max-iterations 1200 --xmin -0.8 --xmax -0.7 --ymin 0.05 --ymax 0.15

For interactive input on macOS, prefer the no-debug run option first. It avoids debugger architecture friction and provides reliable stdin prompts.

Project Layout

• include/: public headers
• src/: core library implementation files
• apps/: executable entrypoints and app-layer logic
• tests/unit/: unit tests
• scripts/: local automation scripts (coverage reporting)
• cmake/: CMake helper modules
• CMakeLists.txt: top-level project definition
• CMakePresets.json: reproducible local build and test presets

Contributing

Contributions are welcome. Before opening a pull request:

• Format changed C++ files with clang-format (rules in .clang-format).
• Build the default preset and run ctest --preset default so all tests pass.
• Optionally run the local pre-commit gate prompt (.github/prompts/pre-commit-gate.prompt.md).

CI enforces formatting, unit tests, secret scanning, and repository hygiene on every push and pull request.

Security

See SECURITY.md for how to report vulnerabilities. Secrets and repository hygiene are checked in CI (gitleaks plus scripts/check_public_hygiene.sh); never commit credentials, tokens, or local environment files.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License — see LICENSE for details.