Cc

Compilers

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How text becomes a running program.

A compiler is a program that reads your code and writes an equivalent program in another language — usually machine code. Understanding the pipeline (lexing, parsing, type checking, optimization, code generation) demystifies error messages, explains what optimizers can and can't do, and covers the ideas behind every linter, formatter, and transpiler you use daily.

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0/7 lessons

Setup

Concepts track — any compiler you already have works for the experiments. Godbolt (godbolt.org) shows compiler output for 40+ languages with zero install and is the single best companion to this track.

Bash

# Zero install: https://godbolt.org
# paste code, see assembly, toggle optimization flags

# Or a local C compiler via WSL:
wsl --install
# then inside WSL:
sudo apt install gcc
gcc -O2 -S hello.c -o hello.s   # emit assembly