Linux, the C compiler gcc. It is installed based on multiple distributions, but on Debian (and those arising) will install (aptitude install gcc).

First, we must know what the abbreviation GCC: GNU Compiler Collection. In fact, it is the compiler created by the GNU project. This is a collection of integrated software capable of compiling various programming languages including C, C + +, Objective-C, Java, Ada and Fortran.
GCC is used for the development of most free software. The Linux kernel depends heavily on the particular features of GCC.
In practice, the abbreviation GCC is used to appoint three slightly different entities:

1. the complete collection of compilers;
2. Part common to all compilers;
3. the C compiler itself.

To refer specifically to the compilers of each language, is spoken of:

  • GCC for C;
  • G + + for C + +;
  • GCJ Java;
  • GNAT for Ada;
  • Gfortran for Fortran;
  • GPC for Pascal;
  • GHDL for VHDL.


GCC also has a tool for debugging, GNU Debugger (gdb). Although not part of GCC, however Valgrind is preferred for testing in more depth, particularly to search for memory leaks.