Compilation Phases

The Intel® C++ Compiler processes C and C++ language source files. Compilation can be divided into these major phases:

• Preprocessing

• Semantic parsing

• Optimization

• Code generation

• Linking

The first four phases are performed by the compiler:

• icl.exe (Windows* OS)
• icc or icpc (Linux* OS and OS X*)

By default, the compiler automatically invokes the linker to generate the final executable binary:

• xilink.exe (Windows* OS)
• xild (Linux* OS and OS X*)

If you specify the c option at compilation time, the compiler will generate only object files. You will need to explicitly invoke linker in order to generate the executable.

If you specify the E and P options when calling the compiler, the compiler will only generate the preprocessed file with an .i extension.

If you specify the [Q]ipo option to use multi-file interprocedural optimization (also called Whole Program Optimization), the optimization is done at link time. Similarly, when you specify option [Q]prof-gen to use Profile Guided Optimization, the optimization is done at link time.

In both cases, the Intel® C++ compiler will generate mock object files that only the linker (xilink.exe and xild) can understand.