C++ Crash Course: a fast-Paced Introduction

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Up and Running
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Figure 1-3: The New Project dialog in Xcode
Linux and GCC
On Linux, you can choose between two main C++ compilers: GCC and 
Clang. At press time, the latest stable release is 9.1 and the latest major Clang 
release is 8.0.0. In this section, you’ll install both. Some users find the error 
messages from one to be more helpful than the other.
N O T E
 
GCC is an initialism for GNU Compiler Collection. GNU, pronounced “guh-
NEW,” is a recursive acronym for “GNU’s Not Unix!” GNU is a Unix-like operating 
system and a collection of computer software.
Try to install GCC and Clang from your operating system’s package 
manager, but beware. Your default repositories might have old versions that 
may or may not have C++ 17 support. If your version doesn’t have C++ 17 
support, you won’t be able to compile some examples in the book, so you’ll 
need to install updated versions of GCC or Clang. For brevity, this chapter 
covers how to do this on Debian and from source. You can either investigate 
how to perform corollary actions on your chosen Linux flavor or set up a 
development environment with one of the operating systems listed in this 
chapter.
Installing GCC and Clang on Debian
Depending on what software the Personal Package Archives contain 
when you’re reading this chapter, you might be able to install GCC 8.1 

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Chapter 1
and Clang 6.0.0 directly using Advanced Package Tool (APT), which is 
Debian’s package manager. This section shows how to install GCC and 
Clang on Ubuntu 18.04, the latest LTS Ubuntu version at press time.
1. Open a terminal.
2. Update and upgrade your currently installed packages:
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