In this blog post I will show you how to install C/C++ programming language on ubuntu or kali linux.

Introduction

C

C is a procedural programming language. It was initially developed by Dennis Ritchie between 1969 and 1973. The main features of C language include low-level access to memory, simple set of keywords, and clean style, these features make C language suitable for system programming like operating system or compiler development.

C++

C++ is a multi-paradigm programming language that supports object-oriented programming (OOP), created by Bjarne Stroustrup in 1983 at Bell Labs.

Difference between C and C++

The major difference between C and C++ is that C is a procedural programming language and does not support classes and objects,. C++ is a combination of both procedural and object oriented programming language; therefore C++ can be called a hybrid language.

C++ is a super-set of C. C++ can run most of C code while C cannot run C++ code.

C/C++-Compilers

You need a compiler which converts the written C/C++ program into machine language (i.e; binary format). C lang will require GNU C Compiler, also known as gcc. C++ will require g++ compiler.

Installation

The below command will install C/C++ and the compilers, GCC & G++

apt-get update
apt-get install build-essentials
apt-get install gcc
apt-get install g++

Executing C-Program

Let’s verify the installation by executing a simple hello, world C program,

#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
printf("Hello, World!");
return 0;
}

Save the above program in a file and name it as hello.c Now, let’s compile the above program and execute it.

gcc hello.c

This will compile our program & will create a binary called hello.Let’s execute using the command below,

./hello

Executing a C++ Program

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

int main()
{
cout << "Hello, World!";
return 0;
}

Save above text in a file & save it as hello.cpp& compile it using below command,

g++ -o hello hello.cpp

Similar to gcc, this will also create a binary called <code>hello</code>& the execution is obvious as below,

./hello

IDE (Integrated Development Environment)

We have plenty of options for IDE. I would suggest to go for a simple editor like sublime if you are just a beginner. If you are a linux geek & try to explore things in hard-way, then the ultimate option will be emacs.

Please note that any editor for c/c++ programming is fine for getting started. Its just a personal choice. My favorite is emacs — tough to learn, yet an excellent choice for command line lovers.

Please refer to my blog post on how to install emacs on linux.