The CodeWarrior IDE uses compilers, assemblers, and linkers to build your software. The IDE automatically chooses the appropriate tools to create your software, based on information provided by the build targets in your project.

A compiler translates a source-code file, such as a C, C++, or Java file, into binary machine code (also called object code). The compiler is one of the first tools the IDE invokes to build your program. At a later stage, linkers use the object code generated by compilers to complete the build process.

An assembler translates an assembly-language file into object code. An assembler is really just a compiler, only it translates assembly-language code rather than high-level language code such as C, C++, or the Java programming language.

A linker combines the object code in a build target with the object code produced by the compilers and assemblers. The final result is an output file.

The linker generates the output file. There are different types of output files, such as applications and libraries. Refer to the CodeWarrior targeting documentation for more information about the software that you can develop for a platform target. See "Targeting Documentation" for additional details.