HOWTO Compile with gcc

["Phil Richcreek" <philRichcreek@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I need to compile and execute a C program that belongs to a another party. 
The author has made all of the source code available to me. My environment 
is Windows/XP SP2. The material the author made available includes several 
.c files, several .h files, and a makefile.  I will be using a library that 
is created by one of the C programs in a perl program and also executing 
another (provided) C program that will excercise the same library.

I have installed MinGW. I have little experience with C and even less with 
gcc. I've looked through some of the extensive documentation for gcc but am 
still uncertain how to get started. Can someone give me some guidance?

TIA,

Phil