why gcc can't compile C++

This problem was solved and this is a stupid question.

But I leave my topic here hope this can helps some one.

Quote:

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hi everyone, im new to programming. I only do web programming before.;

i tried to compile those line of codes with gcc on my CentOS 5 server:

Code:

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#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

int main()
{
  cout<<"HEY, you, I'm alive! Oh, and Hello World!\n";
  cin.get();
}

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It gave errors.

I googled it and people said i should use g++ instead of gcc; Yeah that would be fine but WHY ?

On this site GCC, the GNU Compiler Collection - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation (FSF) they said gcc can compile c++ as well, why i cannot use it?

Please somebody let me know why, i will appreciate so much. I hate doing things that i dont know why. I will not use g++ to compile my *.cpp until i know why. Thank you.

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gcc and g++ are both wrappers around the same underlying compiler engine. They both understand C++ and can compile it. However, the linking step to produce a final executable is different for the C and C++ languages. The gcc wrapper has no knowledge of the C++-specific libraries needed to link a C++ program. Therefore, the link step will fail with some obscure error messages.

Unless you are compiling a truly standalone C++ program that doesn't use any C++ features which are provided by runtime support (i.e., no exceptions, no C++ standard libraries, no nothing, really), you cannot use gcc to link a C++ program.

However, you may be able to compile with gcc and then link with g++, though I have no idea why you'd want to:

Code:

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$ XXXXXXXXXX
$ XXXXXXXXXX

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I do not recommend the above. In fact, it's so disgusting that I've blanked it out because you'd probably take it and run with it.

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I will not use g++ to compile my *.cpp until i know why. Thank you.

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This is simply baffling. The default assumption should be to use the right tool for the job. There's being curious, and there's being deliberately obstinate.

thanks brewbuck, so gcc doesn't have c++ libraries and it can't understand anything that belongs to std namespace.

I think i was confused between "gcc" - the tool to compile and link C, and "GCC" - GNU Compiler Collection; ...

so g++ came with GCC when i installed GCC on my server. I was wondering where the hell is that g++ came from.

thanks for your help, i will use g++ to compile my works from now.

GCC used to stand for Gnu C Compiler. Although it stands for Gnu Compiler Collection now, the name that invokes the C compiler stuck. On a traditional Unix system, would you expect that invoking cc on a Fortran source file would be particularly useful? Why then would you want to use the C compiler on a C++ file? Use g++ - it is analogous to CC on other Unix systems.

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Originally Posted by kermit

GCC used to stand for Gnu C Compiler. Although it stands for Gnu Compiler Collection now, the name that invokes the C compiler stuck. On a traditional Unix system, would you expect that invoking cc on a Fortran source file would be particularly useful? Why then would you want to use the C compiler on a C++ file? Use g++ - it is analogous to CC on other Unix systems.

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yeah i know, i though "GCC" and "gcc" are the same thing. Thanks man.

I love this forum people response so fast.

It's because this is an easy question to respond to. G++ is a C++ compiler. GCC is a C compiler.