Cicada is distributed as either a set of C or C++ source files. The C version of Cicada is designed to embed (or be embedded in) the user’s C code, whereas the C++ version merges with a user’s C++ code. See the previous section for details on how to do do this.
The simplest way to build the executable is to use the command-line tool make along with a C/C++ compiler such as gcc; free versions of these exist for many platforms. To build Cicada using make, put everything---source files, header files, Makefile and ‘.cicada’ files---into the same directory; navigate to that directory from a command prompt; and then type “make cicada CC=gcc” for a C program, or just “make cicada” for a C++ program. This should produce a cicada executable in that same directory.
Once Cicada has successfully been compiled, we can run it by opening up a command terminal, navigating into Cicada’s directory and typing “./cicada” (UNIX and Mac), or just “cicada” (PC/Windows). Cicada should present a command prompt, looking like this:
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Last update: May 8, 2024