Brief Tutorial on Configuring WSL and Installing GCC on Windows

Configuring WSL on Windows

You are not formally prohibited from using integrated IDEs (e.g., VSCode, Eclipse, Netbeans, IntelliJ), but you are expected to be able to compile manually via the command line, understand the process, and this may be assessed.

It is, therefore, highly recommended that you learn to use the command line. Both practical and theoretical classes will include its usage. In the practical guides, there will be tips on using a Linux shell, and when a command is provided to run in the shell, it will appear as follows (where $ is just the prompt symbol and should not be typed):

$ ls -l

WSL allows you to run a Linux environment directly on Windows, providing some of the tools of a Linux distribution, including a shell where you can manually compile via the command line.

Follow these steps to set up WSL on Windows:

• Open the Command Prompt (cmd) as an administrator (search for "cmd" in the start menu, right-click, and select Run as Administrator).
• Run the following command to install WSL and set Ubuntu as the default distribution:

  $ wsl --install

• After installation, restart your computer if necessary.
• Once restarted, open Ubuntu (available in the start menu) and follow the on-screen instructions to create a user and password.

You can also follow this tutorial:

• Windows Subsystem for Linux Installation Guide for Windows

Installing GCC

GCC (GNU Compiler Collection) is required to compile C programs.

Follow these steps to install GCC:

• Update the packages using the preferred package manager for the distribution. For Ubuntu, use the following command:

  $ sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

• In the Ubuntu terminal, execute:

  $ sudo apt install build-essential -y

• Verify that the installation was successful with:

  $ gcc --version