1@c Copyright (C) 1988-2020 Free Software Foundation, Inc. 2@c This is part of the GCC manual. 3@c For copying conditions, see the file gcc.texi. 4 5@node G++ and GCC 6@chapter Programming Languages Supported by GCC 7 8@cindex GCC 9@cindex GNU Compiler Collection 10@cindex GNU C Compiler 11@cindex Ada 12@cindex D 13@cindex Fortran 14@cindex Go 15@cindex Objective-C 16@cindex Objective-C++ 17GCC stands for ``GNU Compiler Collection''. GCC is an integrated 18distribution of compilers for several major programming languages. These 19languages currently include C, C++, Objective-C, Objective-C++, 20Fortran, Ada, D, Go, and BRIG (HSAIL). 21 22The abbreviation @dfn{GCC} has multiple meanings in common use. The 23current official meaning is ``GNU Compiler Collection'', which refers 24generically to the complete suite of tools. The name historically stood 25for ``GNU C Compiler'', and this usage is still common when the emphasis 26is on compiling C programs. Finally, the name is also used when speaking 27of the @dfn{language-independent} component of GCC: code shared among the 28compilers for all supported languages. 29 30The language-independent component of GCC includes the majority of the 31optimizers, as well as the ``back ends'' that generate machine code for 32various processors. 33 34@cindex COBOL 35@cindex Mercury 36The part of a compiler that is specific to a particular language is 37called the ``front end''. In addition to the front ends that are 38integrated components of GCC, there are several other front ends that 39are maintained separately. These support languages such as 40Mercury, and COBOL@. To use these, they must be built together with 41GCC proper. 42 43@cindex C++ 44@cindex G++ 45@cindex Ada 46@cindex GNAT 47Most of the compilers for languages other than C have their own names. 48The C++ compiler is G++, the Ada compiler is GNAT, and so on. When we 49talk about compiling one of those languages, we might refer to that 50compiler by its own name, or as GCC@. Either is correct. 51 52@cindex compiler compared to C++ preprocessor 53@cindex intermediate C version, nonexistent 54@cindex C intermediate output, nonexistent 55Historically, compilers for many languages, including C++ and Fortran, 56have been implemented as ``preprocessors'' which emit another high 57level language such as C@. None of the compilers included in GCC are 58implemented this way; they all generate machine code directly. This 59sort of preprocessor should not be confused with the @dfn{C 60preprocessor}, which is an integral feature of the C, C++, Objective-C 61and Objective-C++ languages. 62