The Xbase++ Compiler - XPP.EXE Foundation

The Xbase++ compiler can be started by entering XPP on the command line. The general syntax of the call to the compiler is as follows:

XPP [<Options>] <PRG-file>     //  or 
XPP <PRG-File> [<Options>] 

<PRG-File> indicates the file name of the source code file to compile. If the file name is specified without an extension, .PRG is used as the file extension. <Options> set switches to control the compile process. Compiler switches always start with a slash ("/") or a hyphen ("-") and must be seperated by blanks (" ") from each other (see below).

The program XPP.EXE contains two components: the preprocessor and the actual compiler. XPP.EXE translates a source code file in ASCII format to an OBJ file in binary format. The translation of the source code occurs in two steps. First the preprocessor translates the program code within the PRG file into modified code which the compiler "understands". Then the compiler creates an OBJ file which the linker is able to link into an executable program.

The result of the preprocessor can be output as a separate file with the extension PPO (PPO stands for preprocessed output) using the compiler switch /p. A PPO file is an ASCII file containing the code that the compiler actually compiles. The preprocessor prepares program code for the compiler and the compiler converts the prepared code into an OBJ file.

Compiler switches

Constants defined by the compiler