Compiling C++ code in Visual Studio Code

I installed the recommended C/C++ extension made by Microsoft. I wish to now fix compiling.

I know visual studio code is an editor with no inbuilt compiler, however there is little to no information as to how to achieve a task of fix the configuration to be able to compile code.

I run linux ubuntu 14.04 and have gcc compiler installed. I wish to use this to compile the code.

I've ben looking at tasks and when in debug mode when launching it takes to this file:

lanuch.json (these are launch configurations):

{"version": "0.2.0","configurations": [        {"name": "C++ Launch (GDB)","type": "cppdbg","request": "launch","launchOptionType": "Local","targetArchitecture": "x64","program": "enter program name, for example ${workspaceRoot}/a.out","args": [],"stopAtEntry": false,"cwd": "${workspaceRoot}","environment": [],"externalConsole": true        },        {"name": "C++ Attach (GDB)","type": "cppdbg","request": "launch","launchOptionType": "Local","targetArchitecture": "x64","program": "enter program name, for example ${workspaceRoot}/a.out","args": [],"stopAtEntry": false,"cwd": "${workspaceRoot}","environment": [],"processId": "enter program's process ID","externalConsole": false        }    ]}

From here I'm lost. I don't actually know what to change here.

Also from this https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/editor/tasks there is an example of a task:

{"version": "0.1.0","command": "gcc","args": ["-Wall", "helloWorld.c", "-o", "helloWorld"],"problemMatcher": {"owner": "cpp","fileLocation": ["relative", "${workspaceRoot}"],"pattern": {"regexp": "^(.*):(\\d+):(\\d+):\\s+(warning|error):\\s+(.*)$","file": 1,"line": 2,"column": 3,"severity": 4,"message": 5        }    }}

Again I don't know how to edit this so that it will compile my code.

I have the file start.cpp which includes my main function.

So how does one setup visual studio code to compile code in the easiest and most automated way?