How do YOU reduce compile time, and linking time for Visual C++ projects (native C++)?

Solution 1:

It may sound obvious to you, but we try to use forward declarations as much as possible, even if it requires to write out long namespace names the type(s) is/are in:

// Forward declaration stuff
namespace plotter { namespace logic { class Plotter; } }

// Real stuff
namespace plotter {
    namespace samples {
        class Window {
            logic::Plotter * mPlotter;
            // ...
        };
    }
}

It greatly reduces the time for compiling also on others compilers. Indeed it applies to all configurations :)

Solution 2:

Use the Handle/Body pattern (also sometimes known as "pimpl", "adapter", "decorator", "bridge" or "wrapper"). By isolating the implementation of your classes into your .cpp files, they need only be compiled once. Most changes do not require changes to the header file so it means you can make fairly extensive changes while only requiring one file to be recompiled. This also encourages refactoring and writing of comments and unit tests since compile time is decreased. Additionally, you automatically separate the concerns of interface and implementation so the interface of your code is simplified.

Solution 3:

If you have large complex headers that must be included by most of the .cpp files in your build process, and which are not changed very often, you can precompile them. In a Visual C++ project with a typical configuration, this is simply a matter of including them in stdafx.h. This feature has its detractors, but libraries that make full use of templates tend to have a lot of stuff in headers, and precompiled headers are the simplest way to speed up builds in that case.