programming-for-dummies

88
Choosing a Compiler
✦ The speed of a compiler can refer to the performance of the machine
language code that the compiler creates.
Given the same program, one compiler may create a program that runs
quickly whereas a second compiler may create that same program that
runs much slower.
Ideally, you want a compiler that both compiles fast and creates programs
that run fast.
Target platforms
Most compilers can compile programs only for a specific operating system,
such as Windows or Linux. However, what happens if you need to write a
program that runs on two or more operating systems?
You could write the program twice with two different compilers — one for
each operating system. So if you wanted to write a C++ program that runs
under Windows and Mac OS X, you could compile that program by using
Microsoft Visual C++ (for Windows) and then write a similar program to compile
by using Xcode (for Mac OS X).
Of course, writing the same program two times for two different compilers on
separate operating systems is a tremendous waste of time. As an alternative,
some compilers are known as cross-compilers — they can create programs that
work on multiple operating systems, such as Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X.
Figure 4-2 shows the REALbasic cross-compiler, which lets you choose whether
to compile a program for Windows, Linux, or Mac OS X.
Figure 4-2:
A crosscompiler
lets you
write a
program
and
compile it
for multiple
operating
systems at
the click of
a mouse.