Live Cells C++

Live Cells is a reactive programming library for C++ ported from Live Cells for Dart.

Features

Declarative

• A declarative reactive programming library for C++
• Define cells for your data
• Express complex logic as functions of cells

// Define cells
auto a = live_cells::variable(0);
auto b = live_cells::variable(1);
 
// Define a function of a cell
auto sum = live_cells::computed([=] {
    return a() + b();
});

Reactive

• Define observers on your cells
• Observers called automatically when cell values change
• Observers are self-subscribing
• React to any event or data change with minimal boilerplate

auto watcher = live_cells::watch([=] {
    if (sum() > 100) {
        std::cout << "Sum exceeded 100!!\\n";
    }
});
 
a = 20;
b = 90; // Prints: Sum exceeded 100!!!

Simple, powerful and maintainable

• You only need to learn one basic building block — the cell
• No need to worry about adding and removing event listeners or callbacks
• No need to implement complicated interfaces or subclasses
• Powerful enough to express any application logic
• Express your application logic without it buried in layers of event handling and state synchronization code

auto a = live_cells::variable(...);
auto b = live_cells::computed(...);
auto w = live_cells::watch(...);
 
// That's all you have to learn

---

Getting Started

Attention

This software is still in the beta phase and may experience rapid and drastic changes between releases.

Prerequisites

This library requires the following:

• A compiler that supports C++20.

The following dependencies are not required to use the library, but are required for running the unit tests.

• Boost Unit Test Framework version 1.82

Installation

To begin using Live Cells:

1. Download the latest release.
2. Unpack the tar archive to a directory of your choice.

3. Install the library by running the following commands in the directory where you unpacked the tar archive:

   mkdir build; cd build
   ../configure
   make install

   This will install Live Cells at /usr/local. You can choose an alternative prefix with:

   ../configure --prefix=/path/to/prefix

Live Cells should now be installed at /usr/local or the prefix you've given to configure.

Configuring your project

The Live Cells library consists of headers, installed in <prefix>/include/live_cells, and a static library liblive_cells.a installed in <prefix>/lib.

Note

<prefix> is /usr/local, unless specified otherwise with the --prefix argument to the configure script.

To use live cells in your C++ project, you'll need to do the following:

1. Add <prefix>/include/live_cells to your include path.
2. Link <prefix>/lib/liblive_cells.a into your compiled binary

Autotools

Add the following to your configure.ac:

AC_LIB_HAVE_LINKFLAGS(live_cells)

This searches for the liblive_cells.a in the default library search paths (or the paths specified by the user), adds the necessary linker options to the variable LIBLIVE_CELLS and adds the directory where the header files were installed to the project's include path.

Add the following to your Makefile.am

target_LDADD = $(LIBLIVE_CELLS)

where target is the name of your compilation target.

CMake

Add the following to your CMakeLists.txt file:

list(APPEND CMAKE_MODULE_PATH "<prefix>/share/live_cells/cmake")
find_package(live_cells REQUIRED)

Note

Substitute <prefix> with the install prefix given to the configure script.

Add ${LIVE_CELLS_LIBRARY} to your compilation target with the following:

target_link_libraries(<target> PRIVATE ${LIVE_CELLS_LIBRARY})

Note

Substitute <target> with your compilation target

Using Live Cells

Now that your project is set up, all you need to do is include the live_cells.hpp header file:

#include <live_cells/live_cells.hpp>
...

You're all set to start following the introductory tutorial.