Project Building

1. Basics of Compiling

Compiler sequentially goes through each .cpp file and:

• check if the code follows the rules of the language, if not then release an error and abort compilation.
• translates the code into machine language which is stored in an object file (.o or .obj)

Linker then:

• checks all cross-file dependencies, can release errors
• links up library requested files
• creates the desired output file, usually an executable

[!note]
Because there are multiple steps, the process of converting source code into an executable is often reffered to as building.

1.2. Compiling flags

General flags:

• -o specifies the name/path of the output file
• -pedantic-errors disables compiler extensions
  Flags that raise the error level:
• -Wall -Weffc++ -Wextra -Wconversion -Wsign-conversion
• -Werror treats warnings as errors
  Setting the language standard:
• -std=c++14 for setting the standard as C++14 or whatever else

[!tip]
Quick flag setup using all of the above:
g++ -o -pedantic-errors -Wall -Weffc++ -Wextra -Wconversion -Wsign-conversion -std=c++14 -Werror

• Debug build flags #stub

• -ggdb idk yet?

• -O0 no optimizations, it's the default but still

• Release build flags

• -O2 recommended optimizations that work on most programs