I'm getting some problems on compiling a very very simple name.c file on Mac OSX Lion.
Now, I started following Harvard CS50 course on cs50.net. I'm not totally new to programming but I was curious on how this course has been taught.
This is the source of name.c:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <cs50.h>
int
main(void)
{
printf("State your name:\n");
string name = GetString();
printf("O hai, %s!\n", name);
return 0;
}
As you can see, it requires this library: https://manual.cs50.net/CS50_Library.
Now, when I compile it, this happens:
Undefined symbols for architecture x86_64:
"_GetString", referenced from:
_main in name-vAxcar.o
ld: symbol(s) not found for architecture x86_64
clang: error: linker command failed with exit code 1 (use -v to see invocation)
make: *** [name] Error 1
If I use the same GetString() cs50.c function inside my source file, it works perfectly:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <float.h>
#include <limits.h>
#include <stdbool.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
typedef char *string;
string GetString(void);
int
main(void)
{
printf("State your name:\n");
string name = GetString();
printf("O hai, %s!\n", name);
}
string
GetString(void)
{
// CODE
}
Why does this happen? I installed the library as it says on the link above; I checked and both cs50.h and libcs50.a are respectively in /usr/local/include and /usr/local/lib.
Thank you in advance for your help.
The problem you encounter is in the linking stage, not compiling. You did not provide the implementation of GetString
, only its declaration (through the .h
file you #include
).
To provide the implementation itself, you usually need to link against the library which includes it; this is usually done by the -l
flag to g++
. For example,
g++ file.cpp -lcs50
Your second sample code does link, because you manually (and explicitly) provide an implementation for GetString
, though an empty one.