the second command was: g++ hello.cpp -o hello This is exactly what we did before, the tilde character (~) that we used in “ ~/Desktop” actually expands to your home directory (your home directory is “/Users/”UserName”/) then ( /Desktop) to get to your CPP file location. The first thing we notice is, it’s running the cd command cd /Users/'UserName'/Desktop Note: the & is used to run multiple commands in order, in one line. Installing the command-line tools will install the clang compiler and it is a requirement to develop C++ regardless of IDE/Editor you choose. Installing Xcode is not a requirement, but many libraries/projects assumes you have it, so I recommend to install it if you have enough space.You understand C++ language needs to be compiled and linked.Basic knowledge of the Unix terminal (I will walk you through it).Via Spotlight (⌘Space) then type terminal and hit enter, within the new window type xcode-select -install

Install the command line tools using by opening your terminal.

You have installed VScode on your machine.

In part 3 I use CMake to work with large projects. Note: if you are familiar with VScode and C++ you may refer to the next part where I use tasks.json and launch.json for debugging and configuring your project.

We start from the ground, running the simplest C++ program, then we add more complex files, automate the tasks and explore VScode along the way.

Visual studio code c++ on mac