Which phase comes after editing in the execution of a C++ program?

The correct phase that follows editing in the execution of a C++ program is compiling.

In the context of programming, editing refers to the creation or modification of source code in a text editor. After this, the compilation phase comes into play. During this stage, the code written in C++ is translated from human-readable format (the source code) into machine code (object code) that the computer can understand and execute.

Following the compiling stage, the next steps typically include linking, where the object code is combined with libraries and other modules to create an executable program, and loading, where the executable is loaded into memory for execution. Preprocessing actually occurs before compiling; it involves processing directives like #include and #define in the source code before the actual compilation takes place.

Thus, the flow of execution for a C++ program is: edit the source code, then compile it, followed by linking and loading, making compiling the correct answer.