C Programming For Beginners - Part 6

In this article, we show you how to compile and run your C program. We assume that the Tiny C compiler has been installed in

C:\TinyC

and your program is stored in a file AreaOfSquare.c in the folder C:\CPrograms.

We will run our programs using the “Command Prompt” window. This is also called the MS-DOS window.

Open the window by clicking on Start > All Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt

At the command prompt >, type cd C:\CPrograms

The window should now look as follows (your first lines may be slightly different):

This changes the current directory to the folder (C:\CPrograms) containing your program, AreaOfSquare.c.

To compile the program, we would like to type

tcc AreaOfSquare.c

where tcc.exe is the file containing the compiler.

However, if we did this, we would get a message to the effect that tcc is unknown.

The file tcc.exe is found in the folder, C:\TinyC.

C:\ TinyC is called the “path” to the compiler. We must tell Windows where to find the compiler by setting the Path “environment variable.”

To set Path, go to Start > Control Panel and open the System control panel.

Click on the Advanced tab and then on Environment Variables. In the section System variables, click on Path (you may need to scroll) and then on Edit. In the pop-up window, click in the Variable value field and use the right arrow key to go to the end of the field.

Type a semi-colon ( ; ) if one is not present as the last character on the line. After the semi-colon, type the path C:\TinyC. Click OK all the way out to the Control Panel.

Now you can type

tcc xxxx.c

(where xxxx is the name of your program) from any command prompt and Windows will know where to find the compiler.

Helpful hint: if you’ve set Path correctly and it doesn’t work, close the Command Prompt window and then reopen it. (If it is open when you set Path, it will not recognize the change.)

Now that you’ve set Path, you can compile the program with

tcc AreaOfSquare.c

If there are no errors in the program, the compiler will create a file called AreaOfSquare.exe in the folder C:\CPrograms. This file contains the machine language equivalent of the source program.

To execute the program, type

AreaOfSquare

The computer will execute the code and type

Enter length of side:

It will then wait for you to enter a number. Suppose you type 12. The screen will then look like this:

Enter length of side: 12

Area of square is 144

and you are returned to the command prompt. The following shows the Command Prompt window at the end of the above activities:

Reference text: C Programming - A Beginner's Course

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