I'm new to programming and am taking the cs50 online course, the course provides an online container with an IDE but in order to do the problem sets offline i downloaded the library files but haven been able to reference them on my code, the library import statement is declared as not used and the function from that library is marked as non existent, could anyone lend a helping hand? print from the issue
Download all the files, I suppose they are cs50.h and cs50.c.
Put both files in the same directory of your main file, and use include statement for cs50.h like this:
#include "cs50.h"
When we use a library that is not in the standard library folder, we must include it with "" instead of <>
Note by editor
The above statement is stricken because it's misleading. You can in fact use <> to include your own headers, provided you pass the directory in which those headers reside as one of the search paths to your compiler.
Let's say you want to compile foo.c that uses a header file called bar.h residing in /where/bar/lives/include/ directory, and a library called libbar.a in /where/bar/lives/lib/ directory, then in majority of C compilers you can use -I flag and -L flags to make it possible to include and link the right bits into your project:
To compile your program foo.c you would:
cc -I/where/bar/lives/include -o foo.o -c foo.c
To link you would:
cc -o foo foo.o -L/where/bar/lives/lib -lbar
These two steps would produce your program binary foo
Interestingly you can use -I. and -L. to include present working directories and use <> to your heart's content.
First off, the mechanism is called include in C, as the code itself suggests.
Then, your issue is in the #include statement. Using <...> tells the compiler (specifically the preprocessor) to look for libraries installed in your system. To include local libraries you should use "...". When using this, also pay attention to the path because it's relative.
So, considering your folder structure, the include statement should be
#include "src/cs50.h"
I set up this toolchain on my Windows machine for my Pi (raspberry-gcc4.6.3-nosysroot.exe) and then I followed the instructions here to synchronize my sysroot.
I use a library called WiringPi in my project, and I have confirmed that it is in the synchronized sysroot:
Then I attempt to compile it:
arm-linux-gnueabihf-gcc -Wall -O -c main.c
But I get the following error:
fatal error: wiringPi.h: No such file or directory
What do I have to do to make the compiler find the header file? I thought the whole point of synchronizing the sysroot was to make this kind of thing work?
You'll have to let gcc know where to look for the include files via the -I argument. In the case above, -IC:\SysGCC\Raspberry\...\usr\local. You may have to add more than one include path, depending on where the required files are scattered. You can also try to set gcc's environment variable(s).
Finding out the correct include path can be a little tedious (see above: should it be local\ or local\include\?). Maybe you can find the environment setting for all default include paths on your Pi and just copy it over to your Windows machine.
Edit: Think I got it: echo | gcc -v -E -
From the docs:
CPATH specifies a list of directories to be searched as if specified with -I, but after any paths given with -I options on the command line. This environment variable is used regardless of which language is being preprocessed.
On my machine, I'd like to e.g. cross-compile or, otherwise have an versioned set of alternative includes. I'd like to use those to compile other people's code.
Concretely, I have several different versions of python, and their related Python.h files.
$ python setup.py pillow
fails because the include it finds first isn't the one needed.
(/usr/local/include has an old Python.h, but I need /usr/local/include/Python2.7 to "win").
Adding /usr/local/include/Python2.7 to CPATH (or C_INCLUDE_PATH) doesn't work because it's placed later.
As far as I can see, this isn't python-specific -- surely there's a way to force GCC to have paths prior to -I / CPATH?
Its a bit hacky, but you can add it to your compiler var
Makefile syntax
CC = gcc -Ipath
Or
export CC="gcc -Ipath"
Or g++ for the CXX variable.
I'm attempting to use a C library for an opencourseware course from Harvard. The instructor's instructions for setting up the external lib can be found here.
I am following the instructions specific to ubuntu as I am trying to use this lib on my ubuntu box. I followed the instructions on the page to set it up, but when I run a simple helloWorld.c program using a cs50 library function, gcc doesn't want to play along.
Example:
helloWorld.c
#include <stdio.h>
#include <cs50.h>
int
main(void){
printf("What do you want to say to the world?\n");
string message = GetString();
printf("%s!\n\n", message);
}
$ gcc helloWorld.c
/tmp/ccYilBgA.o: In function `main':
helloWorld.c:(.text+0x16): undefined reference to `GetString'
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
I followed the instructions to the letter as stated in the instructions, but they didn't work for me. I'm runing ubuntu 12.04. Please let me know if I can clarify further my problem.
First, as a beginner, you should always ask GCC to compile with all warnings and debugging information enabled, i.e. gcc -Wall -g. But at some time read How to invoke gcc. Use a good source code editor (such as GNU emacs or vim or gedit, etc...) to edit your C source code, but be able to compile your program on the command line (so don't always use a sophisticated IDE hiding important compilation details from you).
Then you are probably missing some Harvard specific library, some options like -L followed by a library directory, then -l glued to the library name. So you might need gcc -Wall -g -lcs50 (replace cs50 by the appropriate name) and you might need some -Lsome-dir
Notice that the order of program arguments to gcc is significant. As a general rule, if a depends upon b you should put a before b; more specifically I suggest
Start with the gcc program name; add the C standard level eg -std=c99 if wanted
Put compiler warning, debugging (or optimizing) options, eg -Wall -g (you may even want to add -Wextra to get even more warnings).
Put the preprocessor's defines and include directory e.g. -DONE=1 and -Imy-include-dir/
Put your C source file hello.c
Put any object files with which you are linking i.e. bar.o
Put the library directories -Lmy-lib-dir/ if relevant
Pur the library names -laa and -lbb (when the libaa.so depends upon libbb.so, in that order)
End with -o your-program-name to give the name of the produced binary. Don't use the default name a.out
Directory giving options -I (for preprocessor includes) and -L for libraries can be given several times, order is significant (search order).
Very quickly you'll want to use build automation tools like GNU make (perhaps with the help of remake on Linux)
Learn also to use the debugger gdb.
Get the habit to always ask for warnings from the compiler, and always improve your program till you get no warnings: the compiler is your friend, it is helping you!
Read also How to debug small programs and the famous SICP (which teaches very important concepts; you might want to use guile on Linux while reading it, see http://norvig.com/21-days.html for more). Be also aware of tools like valgrind
Have fun.
I take this course and sometimes I need to practice offline while I am traveling or commuting. Under Windows using MinGW and Notepad++ as an IDE (because I love it and use it usually while codding python) I finally found a solution and some time to write it down.
Starting from scratch. Steps for setting up gcc C compiler, if already set please skip to 5
Download Git and install. It includes Git Bash, which is MINGW64 linux terminal. I prefer to use Git as I need linux tools such as sed, awk, pull, push on my Windows and can replace Guthub's terminal.
Once Git installed make sure that gcc packages are installed. You can use my configuration for reference...
Make sure your compiler works. Throw it this simple code,
by saving it in your working directory Documents/Harvard_CS50/Week2/
hello.c
#include <stdio.h>
int main(void)
{
printf("Hello StackOverflow\n");
}
start Git Bash -> navigate to working directory
cd Documents/Harvard_CS50/Week2/
compile it in bash terminal
gcc helloworld.c -o helloworld.exe
execute it using bash terminal
./helloworld.exe
Hello StackOverflow
If you see Hello StackOverflow, your compiler works and you can write C code.
Now to the important bit, installing CS50 library locally and using it offline. This should be applicable for any other libraries introduced later in the course.
Download latest source code file cs50.c and header file cs50.h from https://github.com/cs50/libcs50/tree/develop/src and save them in Documents/Harvard_CS50/src
Navigate into src directory and list the files to make sure you are on the right location using
ls
cs50.c cs50.h
Cool, we are here. Now we need to compile object file for the library using
gcc -c -ggdb -std=c99 cs50.c -o cs50.o
Now using the generated cs50.o object file we can create our cs50 library archive file.
ar rcs libcs50.a cs50.o
After all this steps we ended with 2 additional files to our original files. We are interested in only 2 of them cs50.h libcs50.a
ls
cs50.c cs50.h cs50.o libcs50.a
Copy Library and header files to their target locations. My MinGW is installed in C:\ so I copy them there
cs50.h --> C:\MinGW\include
libcs50.a --> C:\MinGW\lib
Testing the cs50 Library
To make sure our library works, we can throw one of the example scripts in the lecture and see if we can compile it using cs50.h header file for the get_string() method.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <cs50.h>
int main(void)
{
printf("Please input a string to count how long it is: ");
string s = get_string();
int n = 0;
while (s[n] != '\0')
{
n++;
}
printf("Your string is %i chars long\n", n);
}
Compile cs50 code using gcc and cs50 library. I want to be explicit and use:
gcc -ggdb -std=c99 -Wall -Werror test.c -lcs50 -o test.exe
But you can simply point the source, output filename and cs50 library
gcc test.c -o test.exe -lcs50
Here we go, program is compiled using header and methods can be used within.
If you want Notepad++ as an IDE you can follow this tip to set it up with gcc as a compiler and run your code from there.
Just make sure your nppexec script includes the cs50 library
npp_save
gcc -ggdb -std=c99 -Wall -Werror "$(FULL_CURRENT_PATH)" -lcs50 -o "$(CURRENT_DIRECTORY)\$(NAME_PART).exe"
cmd /c "$(CURRENT_DIRECTORY)\$(NAME_PART).exe"
Download the cs50 from: http://mirror.cs50.net/library50/c/library50-c-5.zip
Extract it. (You will get two files cs50.c and cs50.h)
Now copy both the files to your default library folder. (which includes your stdio.h file)
Now while writing your program use: #include < cs50.c >
You can also copy the files to the folder containing your helloWorld.c file.
You have to use: #include " cs50.c ".
OR =====================================================================>
Open cs50.c and cs50.h files in text editor.
In cs50.h, just below #include < stdlib.h > add #include < stdio.h > and #include < string.h > both on new line.
Now open cs50.c file, copy everything (from: /**Reads a line of text from standard input and returns the equivalent {from line 47 to last}) and paste it in cs50.h just above the #endif and save the files.
Now you can copy the file cs50.h to either your default library folder or to your current working folder.
If you copied the file to default folder then use: #include < cs50.h > and if you copied the files to current working folder then use: #include " cs50.h ".
You need to link against the library during compilation. The library should end in .a or .so if you are on Ubuntu. To link against a library:
gcc -o myProgram myProgram.c -l(library name goes here but no parentheses)
You have to link against the library, how come GCC would know what library you want to use?
gcc helloWorld.c -lcs50
Research Sources:
building on the answers above given by Basile Starynkevitch, and Gunay Anach
combined with instructions from some videos on youtube 1 2
Approach:
covering the minimum things to do, and sharing the "norms" separately
avoiding any modification to anywhere else on the system
including the basic breakdown of the commands used
not including all the fine details, covering only the requirements absolute to task or for effective communication of instructions. leaving the other mundane details to the reader
assuming that the other stuff like compiler, environment variable etc is already setup, and familiarity with shell's file navigation commands is there
My Environment:
compiler: gcc via msys2
shell: bash via msys2
IDE: doesnt matter here
Plan:
getting the source files
building the required files: *.o (object) and *.a (archive)
telling the compiler to use it
Action:
Let's say, current directory = "desktop/cs50"
It contains all the *.c files like test-file.c which I will be creating for assignments/problem sets/practise etc.
Get the *.h and *.c files
Source in this particular case: https://github.com/cs50/libcs50/tree/main/src
Go over each file individually
Copy all the content of it
Say using "Copy raw contents" icon of individual files
Create the corresponding file locally in the computer
Do it in a a separate folder just to keep things clean, let's say in "desktop/cs50/src" aka ./src
Build the required files using in the terminal after changing your current directory to "desktop/cs50/src" :
gcc -c cs50.c to create the "cs50.o" object file from "cs50.c" using "gcc"
ar cr libcs50.a cs50.o to create "libcs50.a" archive file which'll be containing "cs50.o" object file
Here, "libcs50" = "lib" prefix + "cs50" name (same as the header file's name)
This is the norm/standard way where the prefix "lib" is significant as well for a later step
However, prefix can be skipped, and it's not compulsory for name to match the header file's name either. Though, Skipping prefix is not recommended. And I can't say for sure about the name part
To tell the compiler to be able to use this infrastructure, the commands will be in following syntax after going to the parent directory (i.e. to "desktop/cs50"):
gcc test-file.c -Isrc -Lsrc -lcs50 if you used "lib" prefix in step 2.2 above
here, -I flag is for specifying the directory of *.h header file included in your test_file.c
and -L flag is for specifying the directory to be used for -l
and -l is for the name of the *.a file. Here the "lib" prefix talked about earlier, and ".a" extension is not mentioned
the order of these flags matter, keep the -I -L -l flags after the "test-file.c"
Some more notees:
don't forget to use the additional common flags (like those suggested above for errors etc)
if you skipped the "lib" prefix, then you can't use -L -l flags
so, syntax for command will become: gcc test-file.c -Isrc src/libcs50.a
say i created my test-file.c file in "desktop/cs50/psets", so, it can be handled in 2 notable ways (current dir = "desktop/cs50/") :
cd psets then changing the relative address correspondingly in -I -L, so result:
gcc test-file.c -I../src -L../src -lcs50
keeping current directory same, but then changing the file's relative address correspondingly, so result:
gcc psests/test-file.c -Isrc -Lsrc -lcs50
or use absolute addresses 😜
as it can be seen that this becomes quite long, that's when build automation tools such as make kick in (though i am accomplishing that using a shell script 😜)
I don't get it. I usually install third party software into /usr/local so libraries are installed into /usr/local/lib and never had problems linking to these libraries. But now it suddenly no longer works:
$ gcc -lkaytils -o test test.c
/usr/bin/ld.gold.real: error: cannot find -lkaytils
/usr/bin/ld.gold.real: /tmp/ccXwCkYk.o: in function main:test.c(.text+0x15):
error: undefined reference to 'strCreate'
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
When I add the parameter -L/usr/local/lib than it works but I never had to use this before. Header files in /usr/local/include are found without adding -I/usr/local/include.
I'm using Debian GNU/Linux 6 (Squeeze) which has an entry for /usr/local/lib in /etc/ld.so.conf.d/libc.conf by default and the ldconfig cache knows the library I'm trying to use:
k#vincent:~$ ldconfig -p | grep kaytils
libkaytils.so.0 (libc6,x86-64) => /usr/local/lib/libkaytils.so.0
libkaytils.so (libc6,x86-64) => /usr/local/lib/libkaytils.so
So what the heck is going on here? Where can I check which library paths are searched by gcc by default? Maybe something is wrong there.
gcc -print-search-dirs will tell you what path the compiler checks. /usr/local/lib is simply not among them, so your compile time linker (in this case the new gold ld from binutils) doesn't find the library while the dynamic one (ld-linux.so which reads the cache written by ldconfig) does. Presumably the builds you've done previously added -L/usr/local/lib as necessary in their makefiles (usually done by a ./configure script), or you installed binaries.
This is probably an issue of environment variables - you have something set that's including /usr/local/include but not /usr/local/lib
From the GCC mapage on environment variables
CPATH specifies a list of directories to be searched as if speci‐
fied with -I, but after any paths given with -I options on the com‐
mand line. This environment variable is used regardless of which
language is being preprocessed.
and
The value of LIBRARY_PATH is a colon-separated list of directories,
much like PATH. When configured as a native compiler, GCC tries
the directories thus specified when searching for special linker
files, if it can’t find them using GCC_EXEC_PREFIX. Linking using
GCC also uses these directories when searching for ordinary
libraries for the -l option (but directories specified with -L come
first).
try "printenv" to see what you have set