C compilation process

What is GCC?

The GNU Compiler Collection, commonly known as GCC, is a set of compilers and development tools available for Linux, Windows, various BSDs, and a wide assortment of other operating systems. It includes support primarily for C and C++ and includes Objective-C, Ada, Go, Fortran, and D. The Free Software Foundation (FSF) wrote GCC and released it as completely free (as in libre) software.

Command to compile

gcc <file.c>
        

Process

Preprocessing:

he C compilation begins with pre-processing of source file, in this step the comments are removed, include headers and expand macros 

gcc -E main.c > main
        

Compilation:

In this stage, the preprocessed code is translated to assembly code that is specific to the operating system.

gcc -S main.c > main.s
        

Assemble:

In this stage, an assembler translates the assembly instructions to object code to be run by the OS.

gcc -c main.c > main.o
        

Linking:

In this stage, the processor has to link pieces of the program that are missing or out of order. By “linking” all these functions together, the result is a final executable program.

gcc main.c -o myexecutablefile