This chapter introduces UNIX commands and utilities for compiling, debugging, profiling, and managing programs written in high-level languages. All the examples presented in this chapter use either the C or FORTRAN languages, although most features discussed here apply to any language for which a UNIX compiler is available. Readers who do not intend to use programming languages in the UNIX environment can skip this chapter.

Most versions of UNIX come with compilers for high-level languages. With OpenVMS, you must purchase compilers as separate products. BSD is distributed with FORTRAN, C, and PASCAL; other compilers are available in the public domain. The advantages of both the BSD and publicdomain compilers are their low price BSD itself is inexpensive to license and their ability to run on any computer supporting BSD UNIX. Unfortunately, they do not use features of the hardware specific to each vendor. Consequently, they run compiled code slowly compared with native compilers that support such features as floating-point accelerators, multiple processors, and vector processing units. The FORTRAN and DEC C compilers, available for both the OpenVMS and Tru64 UNIX operating systems, are examples of compilers taking advantage of specific hardware, in this case the Alpha architecture. Readers who wish to determine what compilers are available on their systems should consult their system administrator or refer to online help using the command man -k compile.

In addition to specialized compilers, vendors may also offer...