Source code files in a project typically use many header files (".h" or ".hpp" files). Often, several different source-code files include the same header file, forcing the compiler to (inefficiently) read the same header file many times during the compilation process. Many programming languages support precompiled headers, including C and C++.

To shorten the time spent compiling and recompiling a header file, use the Precompile command in the Project Menu. A precompiled header file takes the compiler significantly less time to process than an ordinary, uncompiled header file.

For instance, a header file that contains the most frequently used headers in your project could be made into one precompiled header file. Instead of having to compile the same thousands of lines of header files for each source file in your project, the compiler only has to load one precompiled header file.

The topics in this section are:

• Creating Precompiled Headers
• Defining Symbols For C/C++
• Defining Symbols For Pascal