You have finally made the move to become a programmer. You’ve registered for a course, you have your texts and manuals, and you’ve fired up your trusty Mac. This is exciting! You think you are all set, and then it hits: they want you to have a compiler. What the heck is that? We’ll explain this and help you to get a C compiler for Mac up and running on your computer. If you are relatively new to the Mac, you can develop your skills with a course on getting started with a Mac.
The compiler is the last step in turning your code into a program that runs on your computer. You learn the C language to write source code. Source code cannot be understood and run by a computer in this state. It has to be converted to code that the computer can run. This is the job of the compiler. You feed your source code in to the compiler and it will either give you an executable program or a long list of error codes telling you why it couldn’t make the program. Source code can be written on any platform. It is meant for humans and is the same on any operating system. The compiler, on the other hand, has to be specific for the operating system where the program will run.
You asked how to download and install a C compiler on Apple OS X. The easiest, most straightforward way is to go to the App Store and install Xcode. That will cover. And, there you have it, the gcc version 4.2.1 installed and working correctly on the latest version of Mac OS X 10.8.4. In Apple’s version of GCC, both cc and gcc are actually symbolic links to the llvm-gcc compiler. Similarly, c and g are links to llvm-g. For more information and examples see the following man pages: $ man gcc $ man make. Crossword Forge for Mac OS X Puzzles for the Web, Print, & PDF (Mac + PC) Crossword PList Compiler PList Compiler is a property list compiler for Xcode. It SimpleText Compiler SimpleText Compiler 0.2 is a beneficial and easy to use Visit HotFiles@Winsite for more of the top downloads here at WinSite!
- Apple mac os x c compiler free download - Apple Mac OS X Mavericks, Apple Mac OS X Yosemite, Apple Mac OS X Snow Leopard, and many more programs.
- Download Turbo C for Mac OS X for free. Installation Note: After copying the Turbo C folder to Applications, please right-click on the TurboC app in the Turbo C folder in Applications and select 'Open'. This needs to be done only when you launch the application for the first time.
Compilers usually produce code that will run faster than the alternative, interpreters. The executable program can be distributed without the source code, which makes it harder for anyone to steal the programming ideas that went into the program. A disadvantage of compilers is that the compiling step adds time to the development process because the whole program must be compiled each time a change is made.
C Compiler for Mac using Xcode
The most recommended way to get a C compiler for your Mac is to use Xcode. This uses gcc, the popular open source C compiler. The details vary for each version of OS X. We’ll go through the recent versions here. You will have to register as an apple developer to get access to these tools. In order to do these installs, you will be using Terminal to work at the command line. Get a solid foundation on the Mac command line with this course.
For all of the versions of OS X, you will be downloading Xcode. Xcode is an Integrated Development Environment, or IDE. An IDE allows you to write, compile, and debug a program from one central interface. Xcode can act as an IDE for C programming. All of the install methods involve first getting Xcode, then making the gcc compiler available outside of Xcode, and then installing a newer version of gcc.
For OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, download Xcode 3 from the Apple Developer Site. This will give you a working version of gcc, but it is an older version. If you want or need a more up to date version, that is available at High Performance Computing for Mac OS X. You can install this after installing Xcode. The files must be unzipped and installed at the command line. After that, you will need to update your Shell resource file so that the newer versions are used. Details can be found at Installing the GNU compilers on Mac OS X.
For OS X 10.7 Lion, you must get Xcode 4 from the Mac App Store. It is free, but you need to supply credit card information in order to have an App Store account. For Xcode 4.2, what you download from the App Store is an installer, which you then run. For Xcode 4.3, it is installed automatically, but it does not have gcc in the correct location. To finish the job, start Xcode and go to Preferences, Downloads, Components. Click on the Install button that is next to Command Line Tools. This gives you older versions of gcc. For the newest versions, you can use High Performance Computing for Mac OS X, as described for OS X 10.6. The process is similar and details can also be found at Installing the GNU compilers on Mac OS X.
OS X 10.8 will be very similar to 10.7. Install Xcode, then install the command line tools from the preferences. You can then get the newer versions of gcc as described for version 10.7.
OS X 10.9 Mavericks will use Xcode 5 and a revised process. Xcode 5 does not have the option to install the command line version of gcc. Instead, ensure that Xcode 5 has all available updates installed by checking from within the program. Then go to the Apple Developer Site and find the latest version of Command Line Tools (OS X Mavericks) for Xcode. It is a standard installer package. Finally, you can update the version of gcc in a manner similar to the other versions of OS X.
Other C compilers for Mac
Apple has extended the gcc compiler with a version called llvm. It incorporates more modern functioning and has a different licensing model needed by Apple for its proprietary software. Clang is an IDE for this compiler. It is designed to give more user-friendly error messages. Clang will give you the latest tools used by Apple for development. The downside is that there is no installer. It has to be built from source code, which means that you will need gcc already. Details are given at the llvm site.
Another option is given by Eclipse. Eclipse is a popular IDE for Java. The CDT plugin for Eclipse gives it the ability to compile C programs and become an IDE for C. Details can be found at the CDT page of the Eclipse site.
Now that you have a C compiler for your Mac, you can try a tutorial to write a simple program. Then get a solid start in C programming with this course for beginners. If you already know one language, extend your skills with a course for intermediate coders.
If you’re interested in learning to program in C/C++ you’ll find this list of C/C++ Compilers handy. Here I have list of Top 30 Best IDEs and Compilers for C / C++. Most of these compilers do C++ and C. Just rename the files to have .c for C Programs and .cpp for C++ programs extensions. Below is the list of some best and free C/C++ compilers and IDEs for Computer Programmers.
Also check: Top 5 Best Free Code Editors for Web Developers
List of 10 best and free C/C++ compilers and IDEs for Programmers
1) Eclipse: Eclipse IDE refers to an open source utility that offers some advanced functionality for C/C++ programmers. First of all, it has some impressive features such as syntax highlighting, debugger and auto code completion. No doubt, Eclipse IDE is supported on Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. In addition, Eclipse IDE also makes coding simpler for new programmers. Of course, you will need Java Run time environment to compile your C/C++ Programs on your PC.
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2) NetBeans: NetBeans is another advance open source IDE with features such as semantic highlighting, automatic formatting braces matching, unit testing, code assistance and much more.
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3) Code::Blocks: Code::blocks refers to an open source, cross platform and extensible IDE for c++. The best feature of this C++ IDE is that as per on your need, it can be extended with the help of available plugins.
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4) Digital Mars: Digital Mars is another free C/C++ compiler having command line and GUI versions. And, Digital Mars features a fast compile and link time. To download Digital Mars C/C++ compiler check the link below.
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5) C Free: C free is a superb alternative for traditional turbo c compiler. It is a small C IDE with some brilliant features. However, C free is not a free IDE, still it can be used for 30 days for free.
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6) Sky IDE: Sky IDE is a multi-compiler, multi-view, multi- project and multi-profile free C++ IDE. Of course, Sky IDE also supports various other languages such as Java, PHP and JavaScript. In addition, Sky IDE also has powerful text manipulation, Syntax coloring, auto complete, line tracker functions.
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7) Dev C++ : Dev C++ makes use of MinGW port of GCC as its compiler. Dev C++ also supports C language, and its feature includes the GCC based compiler, auto code completion, syntax highlighting, project manager and print support.
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C++ For Mac Os X
8) CodeLite: Like Code::Blocks C++ IDE, Codelite is also an open source, cross platform IDE for C/C++ Programming languages. Codelite can work on different Operating systems such as Windows, Linux and Mac OS.
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9) MinGW: MinGW compilers provide a group of programming tools suitable for native windows applications. MinGW comprises a port of GCC (GNU) such as C, C++, ADA and Fortran Compilers. It’s an open source compiler.
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10) Ultimate++ : U++ is a cross platform RAD IDE that focuses on c++ programmers productivity. It features a set of libraries such as GUI and SQL. U++ works with GCC, Visual C++ and MinGW.
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List of 10 Free and Best IDEs and Compilers for C / C++
11) Microsoft Visual Studio Express for Windows Desktop: Not everyone likes Microsoft, but there’s no denying that they do provide very good code with an excellent IDE. It needs.NET and Windows 7 or later though you can compile for win 32, (no MFC) with the C++ part as well as VB.NET/C#. It requires free registration.
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12) Open Watcom: Getting a bit long in the tooth and the IDE isn’t great but runs on Windows 2000 (probably 98) as well as newer Windows.
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13) GCC: The classic open source C compiler for Linux and many other operating systems (and Windows under Cygwin or Ming), a project that has been around forever. Excellent open-source quality software. It doesn’t come with an IDE (which are usually platform dependent), but there are loads out there, eg, Mono-Develop on Linux.
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15) Xcode: This is for Apple Macs and is their version of GCC but purely for Apple’s own Mac OS Operating System. It has excellent documentation and SDKs for Mac and iPhone. If you have a Mac, this is what you use.
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16) Tiny C – Compiler: TinyCC (aka TCC) is a small, fast C compiler that is meant to be self-relying: you do not need an external assembler or linker because TCC does that for you. With the aid of another library, it can be used as a back-end code generator. TCC compiles so fast that even for big projects Make-files may not be necessary.
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17) Portable C Compiler: Developed from one of the earliest C Compilers, and at the start of the 80s most c compilers were based on it. Portability was designed into it from the start in contrast to Dennis Ritchie’s C compiler which was very hardware dependent. It’s now being developed to be C99 compatible.
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18) Failsafe C: A Japanese project from the Research Team for Software Security at the Research Center for Information Security (RCIS), National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), JAPAN, this version of C for Linux supports over 500 functions (not C99 or Widechar). It provides complete protection against memory block over-boundary accesses making it as safe as Java and C#.
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19) Pelles C: This is a free development kit for Windows and Windows Mobile containing an optimizing C compiler, a macro assembler, a linker, a resource compiler, a message compiler, a make utility and installs builders for both Windows and Windows Mobile. It also has an IDE with project management, debugger, source code editor and resource editors for dialogues, menus, string tables, accelerator tables, bitmaps, icons, cursors, animated cursors, animation videos (AVI’s without sound), versions and XP manifests.
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Mac Os C Compiler
20) CC65: It is an open source cross development package for 65(C)02 systems, including a powerful macro assembler, a C compiler, linker, librarian and several other tools. It includes support for the GEOS operating system for the Commodore (C64, C128, C16, C116 and Plus/4, P500, 600/700) family of computers, the Apple, the Atari 8bit machines, the Oric Atmos, the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), the Supervision Game Console and the Atari Lynx Console.
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21) LCC: This is a retargetable compiler for Standard C. It generates code for the ALPHA, SPARC, MIPS R3000, and Intel x86 and its successors. It’s been compiling production programs since 1988 and used by hundreds of C programmers. Addison-Wesley published a book about it, documenting how it works back in 1995 that you can still buy.
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22) SDCC: This is also re-targetable, and optimising ANSI – C compiler targeting the Intel 8051, Maxim 80DS390, Zilog Z80 and the Motorola 68HC08 based MCUs. It can add inline assembler code anywhere in a function, as well reporting on the complexity of a function to help decide what should be re-written in assembler and comes with the source level debugger SDCDB.
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23) Borland C++ 5.5: Borland is only an 8.5 MB download. It includes the compiler bcc32, 32-bit linker (tlink32), Borland Resource Compiler / Binder (brc32, brcc32), C++ Win32 Preprocessor (cpp32) and a few other utilities for importing definitions from libraries, and about DLLs, exes plus a .hlp file.
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24) nesC: nesCis an extension to the C programming language designed to embody the structuring concepts and execution model of TinyOS. TinyOS is an event-driven operating system designed for sensor network nodes that have very limited resources (e.g., 8K bytes of program memory, 512 bytes of RAM).
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25) CC386: It is a free Win-32 C compiler, which supports C99 (or will do soon). CC386 has been put together by David Lindauer over eight years and includes the source code for the compiler and tools. It also includes an IDE which provides compilation, editing and debugging. A very impressive achievement for one individual.
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26) SubC: Subc is a fast, simple public domain compiler for a clean subset of the C programming language on Linux, FreeBSD and Windows platforms. It can compile itself and is the subject of a book “PRACTICAL COMPILER CONSTRUCTION” explaining the anatomy of a C Compiler.
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C++ Compiler For Mac Download
These were few best IDEs and Compilers for C/C++ that I could collect. Among all these, I use Dev C++ for my daily tasks in C and C++. Let me know which one do you use. And leave a comment below if you find some broken links.