[chatterjee]

I heard that Linux has a very good C compiler named gcc.But in my newly installed Ubuntu 7.04 I can't find it,though it is shown in synaptic that it is installed.How can I open it?

Is there any other good C compiler for Ubuntu?Please suggest one.

NB:My question may seem to be stupid one,but I'm a complete newbie to Linux.

[briealeida]

To install it the command is 'apt-get build-essential'.

(Obviously, this installs more than the compiler.)

[jsize466]

What you need to do is start up a terminal and run:
1. sudo apt-get install build-essential
2. put in your root password
3. tell the install yes

The compiler is gcc and it is great (thanks to RTS) . This will also give you the g++ compiler (C++).

I hope that helps

[chatterjee]

Executed the command.But where is gcc.How to open the compiler?

[InterKnight]

There are two ways, essentially, to access the compiler.

The first is to use the terminal (Applications->Accessories->Terminal):
----To learn about using gcc in the terminal, run the command:

man gcc

or to learn about using g++ via the terminal, run the previous, replacing gcc with g++.

The second way is to use a GUI IDE for programming, such as Code::Blocks Studio. They have Ubuntu (.deb) nightly build packages here.

Note that some nightly releases do not yet have a deb package available. Before installing the package, however, you'll need to follow this tutorial.

I've used Code::Blocks for over two years now; it works quite well.

Hope this helps.

Take care.

[chatterjee]

But how to open the compiler?

[InterKnight]

Basically, as far as I know, you cannot "open (per se) the compiler. You coudl access its capabilities via an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) like Code::Blocks, or you could create a text file with yoru code in it and save it with a .cpp extension (for C++) or a .c extension (for C), then run either gcc or g++ via the command line with various parameters to compile the file.

I've really never used the compiler via the command line; I've always used it via a GUI program such as Code::Blocks.

[briealeida]

Reread what InterKnight said.

What do you feel you need to open it for?
You can install a front end to it but it natively doesn't have one.
The website for the compiler is http://gcc.gnu.org

This may be your pace, too: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Compiler_Collection

[lotuseclat79]

If you have Synaptic Package Manager accessible from the System->Administration pull-down menu, use it to install gcc after checking the appropriate blocks. You will get only what is needed for gcc and g++ and libraries to work, and it will tell you the files involved in the installation from a .list file in the directory, /var/lib/dpkg/info with gcc in the name of the .list file after you have installed it using the Synaptic Package Manager. I can't emphasize enough that the use of Synaptic is the preferred way to get any updates rather than using the Update Manager for your system. I only use the Check function of the Update Manager and NOT the Install function because you get too many unneeded other packages installed that are not necessarily needed that it may not tell you about.

As for opening gcc, it is invoked via command line terminal:
$ gcc file.c
or
$ g++ file.cc

-- Tom

P.S. I am not aware of a graphical IDE environment for gcc or g++ although there may be an excellent one available. I started my career as a compiler jock in software engineering, so using a command line environment is second nature to me - i.e. usually better control, unless I find the right environment in my travels around the web.

P.P.S. If anyone knows of an excellent gcc/g++ Frontend graphical environment for compiling, creating code, and debugging with gdb - post a link here!

[InterKnight]

lotuseclat79,

I actually never learned to use the command-line compiler when I was in college; it always seemed so esoteric to me until I started using Linux.

For a really good front-end, however, please see my post (#5) on this thread. Code::Blocks (in my op0inion) is a great application available for multiple operating systems, and it's open source. It can make use of GDB as well as GCC (on its initial startup it scans for any present compilers).

While I was in college a couple years back, we had to use Micro$oft Visual C++, but I couldn't afford it for my homework assignments. I found Code::Blocks and used it ever since.

There was another one around called Dev-C++, but ti appears (to me) to be out of development except for a branch of it at sourceforge. The problem with it was that it was only for Windows.

Hope this info helps.

Take care.

[chatterjee]

Thank you all for your help.
By "opening compiler" I tried to say that I cannot open the IDE.Actually I was used to type programs in Turbo C IDE in Windows and wanted to see a similar one in Linux.

[InterKnight]

chatterjee,

I know that there are other C/C++ IDEs for Linux (I'm pretty sure), but the main one I now of is Code::Blocks.

I just did a bit of research for you on this one. Here are a few IDEs:

Anjunta IDE--I've never used this one, but you can get it through Synaptic in Ubuntu.

Eclipse (with eclipse C/C++ Development Tools (CDT))--you can get this from Synaptic in Ubuntu. The packages are named [b]eclipse]/b] and eclipse-cdt.

Code::Blocks Studio (if you'd go with this option, please see post #5. I wouldn't go with the 1.0RC2 release as it's quite outdated. The MingW Developer Studio (from what I saw, this has not been updated for about two years)

Hope this may be of some help to you.

Take care.

[chatterjee]

Thank you very much InterKnight

[InterKnight]

No problem. Just glad to be of assistance.