How Can I Speed Up Build Times for My Growing C++ Project?

It might be time to rethink how your project is structured. Focusing on modularity means only compiling what's necessary for your changes and linking as effectively as possible. This approach will not only expedite your builds but also improve your coding skills in the long run.

When I was tackling a larger project in school, I found that using Incredibuild made a huge difference. It allows you to distribute the build process to another PC, which sped things up even with older hardware.

A good practice is to compile each unit as a shared library before linking. This way, you avoid recompiling code that hasn't changed, which can save a lot of time.

How many files are you working with, and how long does the build typically take? Tools like Make only rebuild the parts that have changed, which can be a huge time saver if set up correctly.

Check out tools like ccache to cache compile results for files that don't change, and consider using precompiled headers. Also, using parallel build options like -J in make or /MP in MSVC can greatly increase speed. C++20 introduced modules which could help reduce build time too! The goal should be to minimize the compilable unit as much as possible.