Compiler
- AST is short for abstract syntax tree.
- IR is short for intermediate representation.
C Compiling Process
It contains 4 steps in total: preprocessing, compile, assembly, and linking.
Preprocessing
*.c -> *.i
It just fetch all the #include<> sources and insert them into the code.
Compile
*.i -> *.s
It converts the C language into assembly language. It is still text file till now.
Assembly
*.s -> *.o
It converts the assembly language to an binary file with machine language instructions.
Linking
*.o -> *
There are some functions that are built-in in C language, which doesn't require an include before using,
for example printf.
They are precompiled and assembled to save the compiling time.
Linking is to fetch these binaries and pack them all together with the compiled program
so that the final executable file is self-contained.