

- #How to create makefile for c program in linux how to#
- #How to create makefile for c program in linux software#
We might modify our simple Hello World! example as follows by referencing the cs50 library, and making use of the GetString() function and the new string type: Modified Hello World Example: Once added, the various functions and types defined therein will be available to us. NOTE: You don't need to focus on using this course-specific library specifically here - this is simply an example of adding an external include to the compilation process. During the process, the library will be compiled, and the output placed in the /usr/local/lib/ directory, and the all-important header files will be added to our usr/local/include/ directory. We can add the cs50 library to our machine by following the instructions from the cs50 site. In addition to the GetString() function, the cs50 library also defines a string data type (which is NOT a native C data type!). For example, the cs50 library defines a GetString() function which will accept user input as text from the terminal window. Among other things, the staff have added a number of functions designed to retreive terminal input from the user. The library includes some functions to ease folks into working with C. The Harvard CS50 course staff created a cs50 library for use by students in the course. We will expand on our simple Hello World example by adding an external library, and using some additional important compiler flags. When I say "Complex" in the header above, it's all relative. Compiling and Linking - A Little More Complex Files from the C Standard Library are linked automatically, and the only compiler flag we are using is -o to name the output file (if we didn't do this, the output file would be named a.out, the deHfault output file name). This works well enough for a simple task like compiling Hello World. When we enter the above command in our terminal window, we are essentially telling the Clang compiler to compile the source file hello.c, and the -o flag tells it to name the output binary file hello. Say we have the following source file, suitably named hello.c: Basic Hello World Implementation in C: Let's consider the canonical "Hello World!" program, written in the C programming language. However, in order to understand how make works, we need to understand compiling and linking at some level.

This is by no means a deeply considered resource on compiling and linking source code. You can also find them as source at my Github repo: In this post we will put together a handful of example Make files. Additional Resources and Items of Interest.Passing the Compilation Target Name to Make as a Command Line Argument.Compiling and Linking - A Little More Complex.

#How to create makefile for c program in linux how to#
However, since I already know how to set up/configure a Linux box (but can always use extra practice), I figured my learning would be augmented by doing things the hard way, and doing everything the course requires manually.įor better or for worse, this has forced me to learn about Make and makefiles (this is for the better, I just opened the sentence that way to sound good).
#How to create makefile for c program in linux software#
The course makes available an "appliance" (basically, a pre-configured VM which includes all the required software and files), which I believe can be downloaded by anyone taking even the free on-line course. However, the concepts discussed, and the examples introduced are general enough that the post should be useful beyond the course specifics. In the post, we discuss some things that are specific to the context of the course exercises. However, if you wanted to let me know if and when I am passing bad information, please do! This article will (hopefully) be helpful to those who are just getting started compiling C programs, and/or using the GNU Make utility. If you are an experienced C developer, or if you have worked extensively with Make before, there is likely nothing new for you here. While I am semi-capable using Linux, and the syntax of C is vary familiar, the mechanics of C compilation, linking, and makefiles are all new. The course uses Linux and C as two of the primary learning tools/environments. I am taking Harvard CS50 on-line, for free, in an attempt to push my knowledge and expand my understanding of this thing I love so much, programming. As pretentious as that sounds, it's not as bad as it seems. I recently began taking a Harvard computer science course.
