C is close to the machine and its toolchain is small. This guide covers compiling, running, debugging and building C in VS Code.

Install a compiler

  • •Windows: install MSYS2 then pacman -S mingw-w64-x86_64-gcc (gives gcc + gdb).
  • •macOS: xcode-select --install (provides clang, which compiles C).
  • •Linux: sudo apt install gcc gdb make.

Verify: gcc --version

VS Code

Install the C/C++ extension by Microsoft. It provides IntelliSense, code navigation and a debugger front-end for gdb/lldb.

Write, compile and run

Create main.c:

#include <stdio.h>

int main(void) {
    int score = 21;
    printf("Score: %d\n", score);
    return 0;
}

Compile with warnings on, then run:

gcc -Wall -g main.c -o main
./main

Debug it

The -g flag embeds debug info. Press F5, accept the generated gdb configuration, set breakpoints and step through — invaluable for tracking pointer and memory bugs.

Build with Make

A Makefile automates compilation for multi-file projects:

main: main.o util.o
	gcc main.o util.o -o main
%.o: %.c
	gcc -Wall -g -c $< -o $@

Then just run make. It recompiles only the files that changed — the foundation of nearly every C build.