C Programming

Use a text editor (I prefer PFE) to create a new file and type the following lines:

and save it as a file named helloworld.c. We will now need to compile this program using gcc, which is technically done in a DOS window. Fortunately, graphically oriented text editors, including PFE and Synedit) have facilities for compiling directly within the editor environment. I will describe the procedure using PFE, but it is easily generalizable to the other editors. See their respective documentation on this web site for more information and links.

First we are assuming that the directory in which the editor is working has already been designated. (In PFE, this is done by selecting the Change Directory... option in the File menu.) Next we click on the Execute menu and select the DOS Command to Window... option. Note also that the keystroke shortcut for invoking this window is to simply press the F11 key, which is what we'll do for the remainder of this explanation. Using either method, a dialog box appears, looking like this:

Note that we have typed the compiler invocation in the Command: window already. This is a basic invocation of the compiler and, as you become more proficient in using gcc, you'll probably use others. This is enough to get your started, though and what it means is this: Compile the C language input file called helloworld.c and produce, as output, an executable file (for your Windows box, in this case) called helloworld.exe. Note also that we have used the DOS symbol "." to denote the present directory as the one in which the (i) the input file is to be found, and (ii) the output executable file to be placed. The "present" directory was defined using the Change Directory command above.

Note: Invoking the Execute DOS Command and Capture Output dialog box using the F11 key allows the capture of the text printed in the DOS execution window which briefly appears. The resulting captured text, appearing in the CommandOutput1 window in the PFE workspace is not a DOS window. What looks like DOS command lines are not, unfortunately. You cannot type in additional DOS commands at what looks like the new DOS prompt. You'll still have to invoke the DOS command using the F11 key again.

To produce this executable now, press the OK button. You'll see a DOS window open briefly, showing the progress of the compilation process. When gcc has finished, the temporary DOS window will close and PFE will open a second window in the PFE workspace showing what happened (i.e., it has "captured the output").

No error messages were produced, in this the best of all possible worlds (apologies to Voltaire), and we can see that an executable file was created by producing a listing of the files currently in the directory using the F11 key:

or using Windows Explorer to see:

We can now run the executable helloworld.exe by either double-clicking it in the Windows Explorer or by executing a DOS command from within PFE using the F11 key:

Press the OK button to see the result:

Congratulations! You have a working C/C++ compiler running on your laptop PC!