Compiling in windows

Hello people. Have been trying to convert ".c" (C) to object ".o". But i'd like being able to convert them to any other format, from ".i"(preprocessing), to ".exe" manually, passing step by step all the compiling process. I'd like to do it two ways.
1. Using only the compiler DevCpp uses (i don't know what ".exe" exactly is the compiler there are many executables in DevCpp\bin (make.exe, mingw32-c++.exe, mingw32-g++.exe,.. here it's a list http://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/~instc...ler/index.html. So could you tell me what program should I use?

2. I like to know how to do it not depending on DevCpp, but once I know point 1, i supose that doing it DevCpp will make it easier, so how could I, from a blank source code file saved as .c, tell the program I want to compile it not the default .exe but object for example? Thanks.

gcc is the compiler.

Dev-C++ has, under options->compiler, a place for you to specify flags, just as if you were on the command line.

Hi again task ;) I've open a shell, and in the c:\dev-cpp\bin directory (where gcc.exe is) i write

Code:

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gcc "c:\documents and settings\kikn\desktop\try.c" -o hello.exe

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, and the shell seems to do something (for a second it turns laggy), but no message and no hello.exe appear. I've browsed it in DevCpp directories and in desktop but no results found :S Any idea?

Are you looking for hello.exe on your desktop? Because it won't be there -- it will be in your bin directory where you ran the command from.

Yes, i've looked in bin, and all other DevCpp directories, and in desktop but hello.exe isn't there.

If you got no message, then your executable file was built.

Yeah the problem was i didn't write the name so it was created as "a.exe". Well, so this means I don't need DevCpp anymore? just Mingw32 and a notepad? This way i could program even in my mobile phone :D

IDE just makes life (arguably) easier. It's certainly possible to go without an IDE.

I don't use an IDE myself, either (Make + GCC works well for me), but my largest projects so far are just a few thousand lines. I'm probably going to get an IDE for larger projects.

(actually, I do use Code::Blocks, but I only use it as a "tabbed notepad", and do all my compiling/running/debugging on the command line)

Great thanks the two. But one more question, if only make and gcc needed, (i only use gcc, what's make for?) what are all the other executables? g++.exe, c++.exe, gdd.exe.....there are about 20 maybe more in the bin directory. gcc is just 86kb do I only need that and make?

g++ is the C++ compiler...

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Originally Posted by kiknewbie

Great thanks the two. But one more question, if only make and gcc needed, (i only use gcc, what's make for?) what are all the other executables? g++.exe, c++.exe, gdd.exe.....there are about 20 maybe more in the bin directory. gcc is just 86kb do I only need that and make?

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Yes you'll need most of them like the C pre-processor, linker, etc

Yes, but i'd really like to know each exe function. I've search everywhere but nothing, any result. Besides, i've tried g++ instead of gcc and also works with c. The only info found is throgh the link linked above

* GCC (C, C++, Objective-C compilers) 3.2.3
* GNU Make 3.80.0
* GNU Debugger (gdb) 5.2.1
* GNU Binutils (assembler, linker, etc.) 2.13.90

And it says gcc can compile c, c++, and objective-c(don't know what is), so what's the reason of g++, and all the others? Please if you know any site where that is explained post a link. Many thanks

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kiknewbie

Besides, i've tried g++ instead of gcc and also works with c.

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Not all valid C programs are valid C++ programs, so g++ might not compile a valid C program.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kiknewbie

And it says gcc can compile c, c++, and objective-c(don't know what is), so what's the reason of g++, and all the others? Please if you know any site where that is explained post a link.

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Read the GCC manual. In particular: Compiling C++ Programs.

Many thanks laser, i'm reading now but i don't understand why then gcc let us compile c++, and even specify with -x c++ command to compile c++, if there could be problems in the compilation as you link says. Same happens if we use g++ -x c to compile c with g++, why not let just gcc for C and g++ for C++?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kiknewbie

i don't understand why then gcc let us compile c++, and even specify with -x c++ command to compile c++

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by kiknewbie

Same happens if we use g++ -x c to compile c with g++, why not let just gcc for C and g++ for C++?

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The -x option allows for fine grained control over which language to compile the source. My guess is that using gcc instead of g++ would be a convenient way to avoid linking with the C++ library. Using g++ with -x c instead of gcc directly to compile a C program is a little strange to me, but if you do not want to use the feature, don't use it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kiknewbie

if there could be problems in the compilation as you link says.

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I do not see any mention of potential compile problems in the manual entry that I linked to. My mention of potential compile problems has to do with using g++ to compile C programs.

You need all the exe's because gcc/g++ calls them in background for you.

For example,
ld.exe is the linker
as.exe is the assembler
ar.exe is the archiver (for making libraries)

gdb.exe is the GNU Debugger
gprof.exe is the GNU profiler (tells you where your program spends its time)
gcov.exe is a test coverage program (tells you what lines of your code are actually run)
make.exe is a build system (makes building multi-file projects easier)

Those are the ones I know... I'm sure you can Google the rest up if you wanted to.

I'd like to point out that "gcc -c" will compile to object file, and it will "do the right thing" if your file is called .cpp for example, and compile it as C++. The -x option is only meaningful when the extension is "wrong" - e.g. someone copied a load of .C files to a machine which doesn't make a distinction between .c and .C (the latter is a C++ file in Unix/linux-land) - then instead of renaming all the files to .cpp, you could use "gcc -x C++" (or whatever the syntax is).

However, when building the final executable, g++, as Laserlight hints, will include the C++ standard library, as well as the C standard library. gcc will only include the C standard library - if you have C++ code that uses the C++ standard library [and it may well do that even if you didn't think so, since a fair amount of C++ "behind the scenes" are solved by linking to the library functions - for example constructors/destructors for global variables are handled by the C++ library, as well as some of the handling of exceptions.

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Mats