Adventures in Programming

 

When you start a new project and create a c++ source file, before you type anything in, this is what is created.

 

 

 

The .dsp file contain project information for the compiler. Click on helloworld2.dsp to see what is in the file.

The .dsw file contains Workspace information for the compiler. A Workspace could have multiple projects. We will only have one project per workspace. If we had multiple projects in one workspace, the compiler would keep information about all the projects in this file.

The .ncb file is create and used by the compiler. It is not in a text format. More information on file types can be found here - http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/3awe4781.aspx

The .cpp file will be the text file with the hello world code.

The sub directory Debug is created and where all the files are saved that are used in the process of creating an executable file or stand alone application. Since we have not type in any code and have not compiled, the Debug directory is empty.

 

 

 

Once programming code is entered and compiled, the main directory contents look like this:

 

 

 

 

An opt and an HTML document is added to the directory. Click on helloworld.opt and see what is in the file. Clicking on the .plg file above will show you the source code of the web page. Click here to view the web page.

All of the files in this directory should not be altered. They are used by the compiler. After compiling, the Debug directory has all the files that are created and used to make the executable file or the stand alone application.

Here is contents of the Debug directory after compiling.

 

 

 

These files are intended to be viewed. The are generated by the compiler based on what is put in the c++ source code file. This is the contents after compiling the code.

This is the contents after building, linking and executing the code.

 

 

 

 

 

A few additional files are created as well as the executable file or stand alone application. The helloworld2.exe file could be copied and given to someone and the program would execute on their computer just as it does one yours except they would not need a compiler.