Sams Teach Yourself C++ in 21 Days

Q If my compiler has a built-in editor, must I use it?

A Almost all compilers will compile code produced by any text editor. The advan-

tages of using the built-in text editor, however, might include the capability to

quickly move back and forth between the edit and compile steps of the develop-

ment cycle. Sophisticated compilers include a fully integrated development

environment, enabling the programmer to access help files, edit, and compile the

code in place, and to resolve compile and link errors without ever leaving the

environment.

Q Can I ignore warning messages from my compiler?

A Compilers generally give warnings and errors. If there are errors, the program will

not be completely built. If there are just warnings, the compiler will generally go

ahead and still create the program.

Many books hedge on this question. The appropriate answer is: No! Get into the

habit, from day one, of treating warning messages as errors. C++ uses the compiler

to warn you when you are doing something you might not intend. Heed those

warnings and do what is required to make them go away. Some compilers even

have a setting that causes all warnings to be treated like errors, and thus stop the

program from building an executable.

Q What is compile time?

A Compile time is the time when you run your compiler, in contrast to link time

(when you run the linker) or runtime (when running the program). This is just pro-

grammer shorthand to identify the three times when errors usually surface.

Workshop ..............................................................................................................

The Workshop provides quiz questions to help you solidify your understanding of the

material covered and exercises to provide you with experience in using what you’ve

learned. Try to answer the quiz and exercise questions before checking the answers in

Appendix D, and be certain you understand the answers before continuing to tomorrow’s

lesson.

Quiz ..................................................................................................................

1. What is the difference between an interpreter and a compiler?


2. How do you compile the source code with your compiler?


3. What does the linker do?


4. What are the steps in the normal development cycle?

22 Day 1