how many passes does compiler of VC take to build an application?

Question

how many passes does compiler of VC++ take to build an application.What does compiler do in each pass,Can any please provide details or pointer for the same

Answer 1

I don't think the compiler pass information for Microsoft compilers is public information. But typically the first two compiler passes are used for code generation and there may be other passes that are typically used for either size or speed optimization based on user settings.
A good compiler design book may give you more details.

Answer 2

The compiler can be broken down into two parts:

1) Pre-processor.
Handle all pre-processor statements. Any #include statements are processed and expanded here. There are other pre-processor commands.
The code is read through once.

2) Compiler.
All statements are processed.
The code is read through once.