### When to Use Precompiled Files

Source code files in a project typically use many header files. Typically, the same header files are included by each source code file in a project, forcing the compiler to read these same header files repeatedly during compilation. To shorten the time spent compiling and recompiling the same header files, Carbide C/C++ can precompile a header file, allowing it to be subsequently preprocessed much faster than a regular text source code file.

For example, as a convenience, programmers often create a header file that contains commonly-used preprocessor definitions and includes frequently-used header files. This header file is then included by each source code file in the project, saving the programmer some time and effort while writing source code.

This convenience comes at a cost, though. While the programmer saves time typing, the compiler does extra work, preprocessing and compiling this header file each time it compiles a source code file that includes it.

This header file can be precompiled so that, instead of preprocessing multiple duplications, the compiler needs to load just one precompiled header file.