The Linux Development Platform Configuring, Using, and ... - Classes

CH03.fm Page 43 Monday, October 7, 2002 8:33 PM
C HAPTER 3
Compilers and
Assemblers
A
ll development systems are essentially a combination of many
tools. Compilers, assemblers and debuggers are integral parts of
these development tools. Fortunately Linux has a large number of tools
available for software developers. These tools have a very rich set of features
that we shall discuss in this and coming chapters. The basic reason
for including this chapter is to enable a reader to use compilers and
assembler in a development environment in a productive way. However
this chapter is not a tutorial on any language or programming technique.
Examples of code listings presented in this chapter are very simple and
are intended to demonstrate the function of development tools.
GNU C compiler, most commonly known as GCC, is the most important
part of this discussion. This compiler can be used to compile programs
written in the following languages:
• ANSI C
• Objective C
•C++
•Java
•Fortran
• Pascal, after converting Pascal code to C
GCC recently added the capability to generate object code from Java
source code. Work has also been done on Ada support.
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