The Waite Group's C++ Primer Plus, Third Edition

Separate Compilation

C++, like C, allows you, even encourages you, to locate the component functions to a program in separate files. As Chapter 1, "Getting Started," describes, you can compile the files separately and then link them into the final executable program. (A C++ compiler typically compiles programs and also manages the linker program.) If you modify just one file, you can recompile just that one file and then link it to the previously compiled versions of the other files. This facility makes it easier to manage large programs. Furthermore, most C++ environments provide additional facilities to help with the management. UNIX systems, for example, have the make program; it keeps track of which files a program depends upon and when they ...