What happens when you type gcc main.c

GCC (GNU Compiler Collection) is the workhorse that turns your C code into lightning-fast machine code. In this article, we’ll explore why C uses a compiler, how compiling differs from interpreting, the landscape of other popular compilers, and then walk through each of GCC’s four stages—preprocessing, compiling to assembly, assembling to object code, and linking into an executable.

May 1, 2025 - 10:55

GCC (GNU Compiler Collection) is the workhorse that turns your C code into lightning-fast machine code.
In this article, we’ll explore why C uses a compiler, how compiling differs from interpreting, the landscape of other popular compilers, and then walk through each of GCC’s four stages—preprocessing, compiling to assembly, assembling to object code, and linking into an executable.