silly question on c preprocessor? clarify plz

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C

is preprocessor ia separate system software or whether its a part of compiler..??..

Posted 1-Jul-15 13:29pm

moyna coder

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PIEBALDconsult 1-Jul-15 19:36pm

That's implementation-specific, but it is often a separate executable.

[no name] 1-Jul-15 20:01pm

What?

[no name] 1-Jul-15 20:01pm

Preprocessor is a part of the Compiler! How otherwise can Compiler take the pre-compiled stuff into account...

PIEBALDconsult 1-Jul-15 20:11pm

Not all of them; otherwise there wouldn't even be a name for them.

[no name] 1-Jul-15 20:14pm

I don't get the Point. Most probably my bad english :( is my Problem not yours.

[no name] 1-Jul-15 21:17pm

The point is, it depends on the implementation. Some have separate pre-processors, some do not. Anyway, it doesn't matter. The OP could have found the answer himself if he had just bothered to look for himself.

moyna coder 1-Jul-15 22:58pm

oh which means does it varies from system to system..? i thought preprocesser will be part of compiler which almost executed first when we compile the program. but i had a doubt..so only asked this question..can you give the conclusion??!

PIEBALDconsult 2-Jul-15 0:20am

Many modern C compilers may have the Pre-processor included in one EXE, but not all, and many historical C compilers do not.
Even if it's included in one EXE, there should be a command-line switch to specify that you only want to pre-process.
Bear in mind that today's systems have a lot more resources available than the systems that C was created on and for.
Of four C/C++ compilers I have handy, two have one EXE and two have two.

[no name] 2-Jul-15 7:09am

I already did and you could have found the answer yourself if you had bothered to do a simple google search.

Jochen Arndt 2-Jul-15 3:12am

Pre-processing is not pre-compiling.

The classic pre-processor reads a file, processes it, and writes the result to an intermediate file. That file is passed to the compiler and deleted afterwards.

Modern compilers with internal pre-processor may do this in memory and write the file on request only.

But C/C++ compiler suites always contain an external pre-processor when it is not build into the compiler. The reason is that most compiler suites have pre-processing extensions that will not work with other pre-processors.

[no name] 2-Jul-15 7:51am

Sorry to all and thank you for this hint. You are completely right, I had Pre-Comiling in my mind.

moyna coder 2-Jul-15 7:58am

thank you all..

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nv3 · Accepted Answer · 2015-07-02T01:40:00

The question is not silly at all. The definition of the C language was made in a way, such that pre-processing could be done in a separate program. And many of the first generation compilers worked that way. They had a separate executable (program) that first did all the pre-processing and generated a temporary file, which was then processed by the compiler. The starting of this pre-processor was usually done by a batch-file or by the main compiler program itself.

Modern C/C++ compilers have the pre-processors usually built-in, although you can still have the compiler output the pre-processed source as a file, usually controlled by a command line switch.

Still, I would say that the pre-processor is part of the compiler, although it might reside in a separate program. And I would not denote it as "system software" as it does not belong to the operating system.

CPallini · Accepted Answer · 2015-07-02T02:05:00

Solution 2

Conceptually the pre-processor is a separate program. Some 'compilers' have it built-in.

Posted 2-Jul-15 2:05am

CPallini

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moyna coder 2-Jul-15 8:07am

thank you..! cpallini..

moyna coder 2-Jul-15 8:13am

then another doubt..when the c program is compiled..the preprocessor statements in the c program will be executed by preprocessor only know..then when we compile frst preprocessor program will be called then only compiler will compile the errors ..is it?