makefile - sandbox example

Always start learning make with a sandbox so you can get clear about how make works.

Make your make file like this:

all:	test

main.o:	main.cpp main.h

%.o:	%.cpp
	$(CC) -c $< -o $@

test:	main.o life.o	
	$(CC) main.o life.o -o test

clean:
	rm -rf *.o test

It’s important the “all” rule goes at the top.

For your demo files main.h and life.cpp can be empty files - try doing “touch main.h life.cpp”.

For main.cpp use this:

#include "main.h"
#include <stdio.h>

int main(){
   printf("Hello world of C!\n");
   return 0;
}