gcc/doc/gcc/programming-languages-supported-by-gcc.rst

   1 ..
   2   Copyright 1988-2022 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
   3   This is part of the GCC manual.
   4   For copying conditions, see the copyright.rst file.
   5
   6 .. index:: GCC, GNU Compiler Collection, GNU C Compiler, Ada, D, Fortran, Go, Objective-C, Objective-C++
   7
   8 .. _g++-and-gcc:
   9
  10 Programming Languages Supported by GCC
  11 --------------------------------------
  12
  13 GCC stands for 'GNU Compiler Collection'.  GCC is an integrated
  14 distribution of compilers for several major programming languages.  These
  15 languages currently include C, C++, Objective-C, Objective-C++,
  16 Fortran, Ada, D, and Go.
  17
  18 The abbreviation :dfn:`GCC` has multiple meanings in common use.  The
  19 current official meaning is 'GNU Compiler Collection', which refers
  20 generically to the complete suite of tools.  The name historically stood
  21 for 'GNU C Compiler', and this usage is still common when the emphasis
  22 is on compiling C programs.  Finally, the name is also used when speaking
  23 of the :dfn:`language-independent` component of GCC: code shared among the
  24 compilers for all supported languages.
  25
  26 The language-independent component of GCC includes the majority of the
  27 optimizers, as well as the 'back ends' that generate machine code for
  28 various processors.
  29
  30 .. index:: COBOL, Mercury
  31
  32 The part of a compiler that is specific to a particular language is
  33 called the 'front end'.  In addition to the front ends that are
  34 integrated components of GCC, there are several other front ends that
  35 are maintained separately.  These support languages such as
  36 Mercury, and COBOL.  To use these, they must be built together with
  37 GCC proper.
  38
  39 .. index:: C++, G++, Ada, GNAT
  40
  41 Most of the compilers for languages other than C have their own names.
  42 The C++ compiler is G++, the Ada compiler is GNAT, and so on.  When we
  43 talk about compiling one of those languages, we might refer to that
  44 compiler by its own name, or as GCC.  Either is correct.
  45
  46 .. index:: compiler compared to C++ preprocessor, intermediate C version, nonexistent, C intermediate output, nonexistent
  47
  48 Historically, compilers for many languages, including C++ and Fortran,
  49 have been implemented as 'preprocessors' which emit another high
  50 level language such as C.  None of the compilers included in GCC are
  51 implemented this way; they all generate machine code directly.  This
  52 sort of preprocessor should not be confused with the :dfn:`C
  53 preprocessor`, which is an integral feature of the C, C++, Objective-C
  54 and Objective-C++ languages.