Introduction

I am Hristiyan Shterev and I`m a high-school student with a strong interest in C++ and systems programming. Through my internship at Compiler Research, I aim to expand my understanding of interactive execution environments and contribute teaching materials with xeus-cpp.

Mentor: Vassil Vassilev

Overview of the Project

xeus-cpp project provides a Jupyter kernel that enables interactive C++ programming in Jupyter notebooks. It allows C++ code to be compiled and executed cell by cell while preserving state across executions, which makes it useful for experimentation and learning, but also introduces behavior that is not always obvious.

This project starts with contained, simpler tasks that assume prior C++ experience, rather than beginner-level programming. The initial phase focuses on writing structured C++ programs in xeus-cpp notebooks and observing how they behave when split across multiple cells. These examples are used to explore and explain key aspects of the kernel, such as execution order, state persistence, recompilation, and error handling.

As the project progresses, the focus shifts toward more advanced usage patterns, including modifying existing code, reusing definitions across cells, and understanding how changes affect previously executed code. The goal is to build a clear mental model of how xeus-cpp works from a user’s perspective.

With this foundation, the project then moves to a high-level exploration of the xeus-cpp codebase to understand its overall structure and execution flow. Based on this understanding, the final stage focuses on small, practical contributions such as improving documentation, adding example notebooks, or clarifying existing behavior.

Project Goals

The main goal of this project is to understand how xeus-cpp and CUDA work and how to use them together to contribute by creating teaching materials with the Jupiter notebook.

More specific goals include:

  • Understanding xeus-cpp and its state management and differences from normal C++ compilations

  • Learn how the notebook remembers variables and functions from one cell to the next

  • Porting different courses to xeus-cpp. For example:

  • Trigger and document most possible linking and runtime errors

  • Explore the source code of xeus-cpp and learn about how it works. Contribute small and safe improvements

Example

CPU - std::sort vs GPU - Merge sort speed test

The example below shows a C++ benchmark comparing the performance of sorting a large array on a CPU versus a GPU. It provides a clear visual of how parallel processing can drastically outperform traditional sequential execution for data-heavy tasks.