If you're like me, you find working on the provided Ubuntu VM to be tortuous and inefficient. It's such a shame to be running an operating system with all of the tools to you need to compile and run simple toy C programs but being forced to use a clunky virtual machine without all your favourite software. Here's what I do to ease the pain.
Mac OS X
This guide was tested on Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite, but should also work on any version of OS X that Homebrew supports. It should work just fine on Mavericks, plus you get access to valgrind. (valgrind hasn't been ported to 10.10 yet, but it does work on 10.9)
gcc on OS X
This post will guide you how to install GNU Gcc compiler on Mac OS X system. How do I install command line tool for xcode package to install Gcc compiler on Mac OS system. How to install gcc command line tool in Mac OS Sierra. 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.
C++ Compiler Macos
By default, if you have Xcode installed, typing gcc into Terminal.app links to the llvm/clang compiler. Although clang is a great, modern compiler it isn't what's specified by the professor and could potentially lead to incompatible code (and lost marks). To avoid this, we can install and run the same (*a slightly newer) version of gcc natively on our Macs.
Homebrew
If you don't already have Homebrew installed, go ahead and do that now. For those of you familiar with Linux package managers, Homebrew is essentially Aptitude (apt-get) for OS X.
Cpp Compiler For Mac
From brew.sh:
The installer will guide you through installing any missing dependencies you may have. (Commonly Xcode tools)
Once Homebrew is installed,brew install gcc
And that's pretty much it. But you have to watch out; gcc is actually just clang plus some extra libraries, you need to run gcc-4.9 instead.
Notice how gcc -v spits out something like
Which, clearly, isn't what we want. Notice the slight difference between clang -v and gcc -v.
Whereas gcc-4.9 -v should show something like
Note: if gcc-4.9 isn't being found, try opening a new shell. The $PATH sources need to be refreshed.
It's probably a bad idea to alias gcc to gcc-4.9 because some programs (Homebrew included) may expect clang. Instead, I suggest using Makefiles to easily specify your compiler.
ALWAYS test your code in the provided VM before submitting! You have been warned.
Using llvm/clang
Another option is just to use what's included with your system. llvm/clang is a very capable, modern compiler and can, for the most part, compile the exact same code that works in gcc, at least in the scope of COMP 2401.
Caveats
gcc (clang) appears to compile everything as C++ code, so you'll probably get some weird warnings that you otherwise wouldn't have seen. Fortunately, I've found that fixing things for clang tends to keep gcc-4.9 happy.
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.
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.