GCC: The Complete Reference (Paperback)

by Arthur Griffith (Author) "The GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) is the most important piece of open source software in the world..." (more)
Key Phrases: Option Description, Java Virtual Machine, Put Line (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
This is the definitive reference to the GCC open-source compiler. Get up-to-date information on the latest features--including compiling Java code, building applications using multiple languages, using the debugger, linking, libraries, and much more.

From the Back Cover
The Definitive Resource on Using GCC for Development

Learn to use GCC (GNU Compiler Collection) to develop and deploy a wide range of software across virtually all platforms and languages. Computer consultant Arthur Griffith provides a rich array of information on the most important piece of open source software in the world. Divided into three clearly-defined sections, this book explains command online options for each of the languages, describes in detail how multiple languages can be successfully mixed to build applications, and concludes with chapters devoted to utility programs such as automatic configuration and the debugger. Discover exciting new programming possibilities with this professional resource--plus, utilize the added ability in GCC to compile Java code into native code or bytecodes.

• Install a newly compiled version of GCC and run a test suite
• Build applications for Linux, Windows, and embedded platforms
• Utilize preprocessor directives
• Compile C, C++, Objective C, Fortran, Java, and Ada
• Develop at the operating system level
• Support multiple locales with internalization, localization, and native language support
• Examine and manipulate object files
• Work with archives, shared libraries, and fully linked executable files
• Build all open source software--including Linux, GNOME, KDE, StarOffice, and the Apache Web Server--and the applications that run on them

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Product Details

• Paperback: 647 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media; 1 edition (September 12, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0072224053
• ISBN-13: 978-0072224054
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.7 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #789,400 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

80 of 81 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Exactly what is states in the title!, October 15, 2002

By	Cthulhu Wookie (Monrovia, CA) - See all my reviews

The author is knowledgable enough that one would assume he single-handedly developed GCC. Any doubts to his authoritativeness were quickly dismissed as I finished the introduction in this behemoth of a reference.

The Book is divided Into 3 parts(4 actually).

The first part delves into the reasons as to why? and what? regarding the creation/use of GCC. It also covers some incentives to continue through the book, which are later examined in detail. Installation, configuration, and usage is covered here. And covered quite well!

The second part details the mechanics of the compiler with tests and examples that take you through the workings of it. Mixing of different languages into one native-executable, experiments and understanding of the compiler's built in extensions/pragmas, and demystification of the command-line switches are all covered in this section. Also this section covers this in great detail as with the first part!

The third part of this book gets right into the fun stuff of learning how to properly set up configuration and make files. It covers a *great* deal of extra resources commonly found on systems with GCC installed and makes haste to demystify these as well. This was my favorite part of the book. I had no idea in the nine hells to even begin creation of 'configure' scripts manually(try reading the man/info pages for make and autoconf and watch your hairs get pulled out by your hands!). This section is concise and to the point!

Part 4 is an extremely important part of the book. This part covers ALL of the command-line switches and directives for use with GCC(and it's family of compilers). You learn where, when, and how to use the advanced functionality. A section in this part also covers all the environmental variables; this helps greatly when you are trying to figure out a perfect function/class/struct/call to do a procedure that ends up taking months...then you see here that a single variable contains actual data/info already!

All in all, this book is concise. I love it. It currently sits next to my Stroustrup(C++ Programming Language), Josuttis(C++ Standard Library), and Sedgewick(Algorithms in C++ 1-5). This book is upstanding. The only reason as to why I gave it 4/5 stars is because of the formatting. It reminds me of something you would find in a Prima Tech "Game Programming" book: large font, bulky, and divided. This is not the authors fault though since this same tasteless formatting is used in all other Osborne "Complete Reference" books.

NOTE: Do NOT get this book to learn C or C++. This book is for the intermediate to advanced programmer wanting to better optimize their usage of the GCC package.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Useful and comprehensive, but too hastily written, January 16, 2006

By	Flash Sheridan (Palo Alto, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a useful book for those who need in-depth information on GCC, but needs more effort in both writing and editing. There are numerous copy-paste-itis errors, which shows that it was not properly proof-read. It also has passages in various chapters which are nearly duplicates of each other, e.g., two "Multiple Source Files to Executable" passages (pages 70 & 106), and five on "Creating a Shared Library" (73, 110, 132, 144, 165). Admittedly some of the details vary from language to language, but there's no explanation of what these differences are; the passages are merely repeated with minor changes.

There are larger but similar problems with the organization of the book. For example, I would have greatly preferred a logically-organized listing of command-line options to a merely alphabetical order. A reader who wants an alphabetical organization can already get it from the manual. This arrangement also leads to problems with the exposition, e.g., the definition of -MQ assumes the definition of -MT, which it precedes. There are other problems with the order of exposition; for example, there's a two and a half page sample of RTL code on 367-9, which is incomprehensible before the explanation of RTL on pp. 387-417, and badly in need of more detailed exposition even afterwards.

(2/27/09: The author never responded to my list of errata, so I've posted it at http://pobox.com/~flash/errata/GCC_The_Complete_Reference_Errata.html)

9 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is your "How do I eat this GCC thing?" book, May 27, 2004

By A Customer

When you are new to a platform you want to get a book that explains the big picture on how things work in this platform; you also want to get enough information on how to get started, not just the easy stuff that you can figure out yourself. This is that book for the GNU platform. If you are already a GCC guru, you probably will find little new here, but if you come from another compiler this book will give you a great introduction with enough information so you can start working right away and be productive from the first day.