Getting started

Setting up a contests folder

First, let's create a directory for your project. Navigate to wherever you want your contests folder to be, and create the folder:

$ mkdir contests
$ cd contests

This will be the root directory for your contests. Now, we'll initialize the project:

$ coman init
    INIT coman repository
$ ls
Coman.toml  src  test

That's it—you're done setting up your workspace. The src directory is where your code will go, and test is for your tests.

Compiling and running a program

Let's create a simple C++ program inside src. You can name it whatever you want; in this example, we'll name it add.cpp. Paste the following code into it:

#include <stdio.h>

int main() {
    int x, y;
    scanf("%d%d", &x, &y);
    printf("%d\n", x + y);
    return 0;
}

Now let's run it! coman can determine which file you've most recently edited, and it will run that one automagically:

$ coman
 COMPILE add.cpp
     RUN add.cpp
5 3
8

It works! The program asks the user to type in two numbers (I typed in 5 and 3), and it prints their sum.

Debugging the program

To debug your solution, simply run coman debug or coman d:

$ coman d
 COMPILE add.cpp
   DEBUG add.cpp
GNU gdb (GDB) 8.3.1
... snip ...
Reading symbols from /home/jtai/contests/build/debug/add.cpp...
(gdb)

You can now debug your program interactively with gdb.

Adding test cases

We can add test cases inside the test folder. Inside test, create a folder with the same name as your source file, without the file extension. In this case, the folder should be named add:

$ cd test
$ mkdir add
$ cd add

Inside here, you can create your test cases. For each test case, create an input file named xxx.in and a corresponding expected output file named xxx.out (where xxx can be any name you choose). The input file is sent to the program's stdin, and the output file is expected to match (byte-for-byte) the program's stdout.

You can create as many test cases as you like. For example:

$ echo '5 8' > positive.in
$ echo '13' > positive.out
$ echo '3 -5' > negative.in
$ echo '-2' > negative.out

In this case, the positive test case tests that the input 5 8 results in the program printing 13. Likewise, the negative test case makes sure that the input 3 -5 outputs -2.

Let's try testing the program with coman test or coman t:

$ coman t
 COMPILE add.cpp
    TEST negative: pass 2.98 ms
    TEST positive: pass 2.76 ms

All of our tests passed!

Using subfolders

You can create solutions in any subfolder of src. Test cases should be in the corresponding subfolder in test. For example, if you have a solution src/foo/bar/baz.cpp, then test cases should go in test/foo/bar/baz/.

IDE integration

• Integration with CLion
• Integration with Visual Studio Code

Troubleshooting

Here's what your directory tree should look like:

contests/
├── Coman.toml
├── build/
│   └── ...
├── src/
│   └── add.cpp
└── test/
    └── add/
        ├── negative.in
        ├── negative.out
        ├── positive.in
        └── positive.out

For troubleshooting tips, see Troubleshooting.