GNU Compiler Collection

GNU Compiler Collection is an example of a compiler. You may find the programming tasks that have been solved using it here.

The GNU Compiler Collection, or GCC, is a multi-language compiler supporting multiple target architectures. As of version 4.1, the main branch includes support for Ada, C, C++, Fortran, Java, Objective-C, and Objective-C++. Support for other languages is possible through the creation of a compiler front-end.

Basic Usage

Any of GCC's supported languages may be compiled through the simple command-line construct:

gcc (source-file)

However, some languages depend on the linking of libraries, such as C++'s Standard Template Library, to reach their full potential. In GCC, one way to include the STL is to change the way the compiler is called:

g++ (source-file)

In the above two examples, GCC will produce a binary file named a.out, barring any compile-time errors. This is the executable form of the code compiled. If it is preferable to have a binary of a different name, and it usually is, one can use the -o command-line option:

gcc (source-file) -o mybinary

or

g++ (source-file) -o mybinary

These example behaves the same as their sibling examples, with the exception that they create a binary named mybinary instead of a.out.

See Also

• GCC official home page
• GNU Compiler Collection on Wikipedia
• GCC online documentation
• An incomplete list of third-party binary distributions for systems that don't already have a compiler installed.
• MinGW, a widely-used port of GCC to Windows
• MinGW-w64, a popular fork of MinGW that adds Win64 support and additional tools and APIs
• TDM-GCC, another Windows port (not listed in the third-party distribution page above)
• DJGPP, a widely-used port of GCC to DOS