Compilation pipeline
Compiling some C files usually takes a few seconds, but during this brief period of time, the source code enters a pipeline that has four distinct components, with each of them doing a certain task. These components are as follows:
- Preprocessor
- Compiler
- Assembler
- Linker
Each component in this pipeline accepts a certain input from the previous component and produces a certain output for the next component in the pipeline. This process continues through the pipeline until a product is generated by the last component.
Source code can be turned into a product if, and only if, it passes through all the required components with success. This means that even a small failure in one of the components can lead to a compilation or linkage failure, resulting in you receiving relevant error messages.
For certain intermediate products such as relocatable object files, it is enough that a single source file goes through the first three components...
