Tool Set, Tool Chain and IDE | C++ Programming Article

We will talk about the toolset and IDE in the previous Article.

We have seen the steps involved from writing a C++ program to generating an executable file from their program in that Article.

We have seen that we are using the programs like the preprocessor the compiler linker, etc.

Etc.

To produce the output from our program all these programs like the preprocessor the compiler linker and others they always come in a bundle and that bundle or the group of these programs is called as the toolset.

They are also called as the tool chain because they are chained together to produce the final output.

If you look at this, then the output of the preprocessor is given as the input to the compiler and then the output of the compiler is given as the input to the linker and like that so a toolset our tool chain is the bunch of programs like the preprocessor compiler linker and others which help us to translate the program from human readable format to machine code for C++.

There are many compilers available.

For example, there is the GNU C++ compiler and then there is turbo C++ and then Visual C++ and many compilers are available in this video series.

We will be using the GNU C++ compiler.

And the reason for that is it is freely available.

It is always updated and is available for all the platforms.

Now, as I said before these programs, they always come in a bundle called as the tool sets.

So in order to use the GNU C++ compiler, we need to get the gnu toolchain this gnu toolchain provides us the GCC which stands for gnu compiler collection and they provide the compilers for many different languages like C C++ Fortran Arda, etc.

So we will be using the GNU C++ compiler this gnu toolchain is available in UNIX based environments.

But if you want to use the gnu toolchain in Windows, then you have two options one, you will install mingw two you will install the cygwin here mingw stands for minimalist gnu for Windows and it provides the gnu toolchain for Windows native application development.

And this cygwin provides the unix-like environment in Windows platform in this video series, we will be using the mingw ok, now we know about the toolset now, let us talk about the process of writing the program and generating the executable file from that program.

So what we have to do we have to find a text editor and then we have to write the program and then we have to call the programs which are available in the toolset and we have to pass in the file names.

So let us say we have to write in the commands and then we get the executable file.

Now the problem here is if our project becomes larger then our source code will be in multiple files and it will be difficult to manage the code and also every time when we make a change to our source code, we have to follow this process again to get the executable file and then we have to run this executable file.

So for the software development, this is the difficult approach.

So every time you have to write these commands again and again and again now what if we have a software which will help us to write the code which will help us to manage the code which will help us to run the code and also which will help us to find the errors and solve it a software is available and it is called as IDE which stands for integrated development environment.

It provides the facilities for the programmers to develop the software's this idea is they come with a text editor so that you can write the code in that text editor and they provide the facilities like the code completion syntax highlighting etc.

And after that you just have to click on a button and everything will happen and you will see the output of your program.

So if you make any mistakes in the program, then the IDE will highlight that code and you will be able to solve that error easily and also the IDE S will have the functionality for and the code management.

So an IDE is a software application which helps a programmer to develop the software applications easily for developing the applications in C++.

A lot of ideas are available.

For example, the code blocks IDE, then Eclipse then Visual Studio and many ideas are available.

You can use any of those IDs and you will be able to develop the applications.

 

C++ Programming Article