How to compile a program from .cpp files and a makefile - c++

Question

I recently downloaded a program. A patient specific survival prediction CLI, http://pssp.srv.ualberta.ca/
The readme included states:
"1 Compilation
The code should compile on Linux without any modification. To compile, just type ’make’. There should
be 2 executables after compilation, mtlr train and mtlr test."
I download an extracted the folder to my location, when I go into the directory and type make I get:
x#x-laptop:/pssp_source$ make
g++ -c -O3 DenseVector.cpp -o DenseVector.o
In file included from DenseVector.cpp:1:0:
DenseVector.h:9:2: error: ‘size_t’ does not name a type
size_t m_dim;
^
DenseVector.h:18:21: error: expected ‘)’ before ‘n’
DenseVector(size_t n);
^
DenseVector.h:26:33: error: ‘size_t’ does not name a type
double const& operator[](const size_t i) const
^
DenseVector.h:26:40: error: ISO C++ forbids declaration of ‘i’ with no type [-fpermissive]
double const& operator[](const size_t i) const
^
DenseVector.h:31:27: error: ‘size_t’ does not name a type
double& operator[](const size_t i)
^
DenseVector.h:31:34: error: ISO C++ forbids declaration of ‘i’ with no type [-fpermissive]
double& operator[](const size_t i)
^
DenseVector.h:38:2: error: ‘size_t’ does not name a type
size_t dim() const
^
DenseVector.h: In member function ‘void DenseVector::push_back(double)’:
DenseVector.h:23:3: error: ‘m_dim’ was not declared in this scope
m_dim++;
^
DenseVector.cpp: At global scope:
DenseVector.cpp:6:1: error: prototype for ‘DenseVector::DenseVector(size_t)’ does not match any in class ‘DenseVector’
DenseVector::DenseVector(size_t n): m_dim(n)
^
In file included from DenseVector.cpp:1:0:
DenseVector.h:5:7: error: candidates are: DenseVector::DenseVector(const DenseVector&)
class DenseVector
^
DenseVector.h:12:2: error: DenseVector::DenseVector()
DenseVector(void);
^
DenseVector.cpp: In constructor ‘DenseVector::DenseVector()’:
DenseVector.cpp:16:2: error: class ‘DenseVector’ does not have any field named ‘m_dim’
:m_dim(0)
^
DenseVector.cpp: In member function ‘void DenseVector::clear()’:
DenseVector.cpp:27:22: error: ‘m_dim’ was not declared in this scope
for (size_t i=0; i<m_dim; i++)
^
In file included from /usr/include/c++/4.8/cassert:43:0,
from DenseVector.cpp:3:
DenseVector.cpp: In function ‘double sprod_nn(const DenseVector&, const DenseVector&)’:
DenseVector.cpp:37:11: error: ‘const class DenseVector’ has no member named ‘dim’
assert(a.dim() == b.dim());
^
DenseVector.cpp:37:22: error: ‘const class DenseVector’ has no member named ‘dim’
assert(a.dim() == b.dim());
^
DenseVector.cpp:38:15: error: ‘const class DenseVector’ has no member named ‘dim’
size_t n = a.dim();
^
In file included from /usr/include/c++/4.8/cassert:43:0,
from DenseVector.cpp:3:
DenseVector.cpp: In function ‘void multadd_nn(DenseVector&, const DenseVector&, double)’:
DenseVector.cpp:49:11: error: ‘class DenseVector’ has no member named ‘dim’
assert(w.dim()==a.dim());
^
DenseVector.cpp:49:20: error: ‘const class DenseVector’ has no member named ‘dim’
assert(w.dim()==a.dim());
^
DenseVector.cpp:50:15: error: ‘class DenseVector’ has no member named ‘dim’
size_t n = w.dim();
^
DenseVector.cpp: In function ‘void smult_n(DenseVector&, double)’:
DenseVector.cpp:62:15: error: ‘class DenseVector’ has no member named ‘dim’
size_t n = w.dim();
^
make: *** [DenseVector.o] Error 1
The contents of the folder look like:
x#x-laptop:/pssp_source$ ls
common.cpp data_type_api.h DenseVector.h Main.cpp Makefile Sparm.cpp Sparm.o SparseVector.h test_model.mltr Util.h
common.h DenseVector.cpp example_data Main.o readme.pdf Sparm.h SparseVector.cpp Test.cpp test_model.mlty
I looked up the basic packages needed for compiling c++ code, as well as basics on how to run it and none have gotten me past this issue. It looks as if it has a problem with size_t not having a type.
The start of DenseVector.cpp is :
#include "DenseVector.h"
#include <cassert>
#include <iostream>
DenseVector::DenseVector(size_t n): m_dim(n)
{
m_dvector.reserve(n);
for (size_t i=0; i<n; i++)
{
m_dvector.push_back(0);
}
}
I have never compiled code like this before, so I am probably missing something obvious. If its needed I am running ubuntu 14.04, g++ version is
4.8.4.
Thanks

Answer 1

It sounds like the README lied. Probably it happened to work with a different version of the standard library.
Try adding
#include <stddef.h>
near the top of DenseVector.h.

Answer 2

Open the file DenseVector.h in the root directory of the program and modify it, inserting
#pragma once
#include <vector>
#include <cstddef> // <--- Add this line to the file
class DenseVector
{
protected:
// ...
Save it and try again!

Answer 3

I don't think you are using the correct version of C; I think you need C11. Instead of using the -03 flag, use -11 or -std=c11. Then recompile it.