cross compiler vs. native compiler

I was reading the 2.4.18 install documentation and am thinking some of
my problems are stemming from older versions of gcc and make.
While reading the install document for gcc there are two types of
compilers discussed, native and cross. I am assuming that the original
gcc package that came with slackware 7.1 is setup as a native compiler.
Thought I would ask to see if this is correct.

Craig S.