Free Compiler For Mac Os X



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.

Xcode 3.2.x-4.2 compatibility (Mac OS X 10.6) FPC 3.0.2 is qualified for use with Mac OS X 10.4 till OS X 10.11, and with macOS 10.12 and 10.13. There is however an issue when compiling dynamic libraries with FPC under Mac OS X 10.6 due to a bug in the Xcode 3.2.x linker. This bug has been fixed in Xcode 4. The Xcode IDE would be my first choice: As you own OS X you already have it, so it's free and it uses the clang compiler frontend with the LLVM compiler backend (currently probably the best compiler suite for C/C) which are also free. 16.2K views View 5 Upvoters.

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.

Welcome to the FreePascal on the Macintosh page. Here is information especially for you who want to write a program for the Macintosh.

News:

2009-02-09:

The download statistics indicate that the snapshots below are still downloaded a lot. Note that all fixes from those snapshots are also in the official release of FPC 2.2.2 (and will be also in later versions, when they become available), which was released in August 2008. Since FPC 2.2.2 also contains many additional fixes, we recommend you to use that version. It is available from the regular download pages.

2007-11-14:

There are some errors in the new linker shipped with Xcode 3.0/Mac OS X 10.5. A detailed overview was posted to the fpc-pascal mailing list. We have worked around most of those issues and created (stable) development snapshots for both PowerPC and Intel. These are intended to be installed on top of the 2.2.0 release version. Future releases will have these fixes incorporated.

One linker bug cannot be completely worked around in the compiler, which is related to the Stabs debugging format. For this reason, we recommend to switch to the Dwarf debugging format on Mac OS X 10.5. On the command line, you can do this by using -gw instead of -g to generate debugging information. In the Xcode projects, add -gw at the end of the FPC_SPECIFIC_OPTIONS project setting for the Debug configuration.

2006-08-27:
Regular snapshots of FPC 2.1.1 (both for PowerPC and for Intel - the latterdenoted as i386) are now generated by and available from the Lazarus team.
If you only need the compiler (to either use it from the command line or from Xcode),you only have to download and install the 'fpc' package.

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2005-12-18:
Version 2.0.2 that was released a few weeks ago has all fixes and improvements of the 2.1.1 snapshot that was here (like Mac Pascal style objects and creationof dynamic libraries). Additionally, it doesn't suffer from the installationproblems the 2.1.1 snapshot installer had. Get the release here.
2005-07-23:
The 2.1.1 snapshot that was here is no longer available.
If you really need to be up to date with FPC,please consider using Subversion, and build the compiler by your self.
Some changes:
  • No more '_main' symbol in the system unit (so can link with C main programs)
  • Shared library creation support under Mac OS X
  • Several bugfixes related to overflow checking on PPC
2005-06-29:
There is now a wiki page covering porting issues, from traditional mac pascals to FPC.
2005-06-21:
A FPC 2.1.1 snapshot is available here (10.8 MB, does not include the PDF documentation). It includes:
  • Support for Macintosh Object Pascal in Macpas mode (includes support for mixing in Delphi-style OOP programming in Macpas mode, except that you have to use 'object' instead of 'class' everywhere -- all occurrences of 'class' are simply internally replaced by the _OBJECT compiler token)
  • Fixed bug which caused stack corruption in procedures receiving floating point parameters and parameters on the stack (only if the caller side was compiled by FPC)
  • Fixed bug in overflow checking of integer operations (some calculations were buggy if overflow checking is turned on, which is the case in the default development building style of Xcode if you use the integration kit)
  • Fixed bug in division of unsigned numbers > $7fffffff by a power of 2
Should you desire to do so, you can switch back to 2.0 by simplyinstalling the 2.0 package again.
2005-05-15:
At last !!!!! Free Pascal 2.0 is released for Mac OS X and classic Mac OS,as well as for other targets.
This means Free Pascal for the mac is not considered beta anymore.Get it on one of the mirror download sites.

Targets on the Macintosh:

Target / Processor

Status

Remark

Contact

final

For Mac OS X

final

Target Mac OS means classic Mac OS, up to System 9.x. Although it of course also work in the classic environment in Mac OS X

Mac OS on M68K

not planned

If someone is interrested to contribute, there is a possiblity to implement this target. There is support for MC68000 in the FPC source code, although not updated for a while.

Mac Pascal dialect

The dialect of Pascal supported by popular Pascals on Macintosh is supported in part. Read more here.

Free Pascal 2.0 for Mac OS X is the current release. It should at least work on Mac OS X 10.1 and higher. It requires that you have installed XCode from Apple, to have assembler, linker and make tools available to fpc. For older versions of Mac OS X you should install Apple Development Tools instead. Both can be downloaded for free from Apple, but requires that you register yourself as a member of Apple Developer Connection. Both are also included in the Mac OS X bundle.

To download, go to the Download page, and choose a mirror site near you (to limit net traffic). The documentation is included, but can also be downloaded separatelly. If you want the source code, it has to be downloaded separatelly.

There most recent FPC 2.1.1 snapshot is available here (10.4 MB)with, among others, support for mac style object pascal. See above under NEWS.

Note that the compiler is a unix style program and is run from the Terminal on Mac OS X.

Please report any bugs encountered.

Using FPC from XCode

CompilerIt is possible to use Free Pascal from within XCode (Mac OS X 10.3 is required).Look at the step-by-step instruction of how to download and install the XCode Integration Kit. Thanks to Rolf Jansen for this contribution.

Free Pascal 2.0 for Mac OS is the current release. It will work on latest classic Mac OS (that is 9.2.2) and below, probably down to 7.1.2 (the first Mac OS for PowerPC), and also in the classic compatibility environment on Mac OS X. However it has only been tested on Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X classic environment.

It requires that you have installed Macinstosh Programmers Workshop (MPW) which can be downloaded for free from Apple.

To download, go to the Download page, and choose a mirror site near you (to limit net traffic). The documentation, as well as the source code (if you need it), has to be downloaded separatelly.

Free Compiler Software

Note that the compiler is an MPW tool.

Please report any bugs encountered.

Current status of classic Mac OS

Native FPC compiler (as an MPW tool)

Almost complete

Unit System.pp

Complete

The system unit is implicitly used by every program. Contains basic file and memory handling among others.

Unit Dos.pp

Complete

Contrary to what its name suggests, the DOS unit is cross plattfrom and contains utility routines for file and date handling, beyond that in System.pp. It is reminiscent from Turbo Pascal.

Unit Sysutils.pp

Planned

A moderner alternative to unit DOS, compatible with Delphi.

Unit MacOS

Complete

API to the Macintosh Toolbox

Units strings objpas heaptrc getopts etc

Implemented.

They are target independent.

Other units

Non-existent. Some will be implemented.

Implementation will depend on how important the unit is and if difficulties arise.

Debugging

There is some limited possibilities to debug programs in classic Mac OS. See MPW debugging in the wiki.

As an alternative, you might do the main debugging in a Mac OS X/Darwin version of your program.

There are three major Pascal dialects: Turbo Pascal (extended to Delphi, supported by FreePascal, and partially by Gnu Pascal), Extended Pascal (an ISO standard, supported by Gnu Pascal, DEC Pascal, Prospero Pascal), and the dialect originating from Apple (commonly used in the Mac community, supported by MPW Pascal, Metrowerks Pascal and Think Pascal). We call this dialect Mac Pascal and there is a special language mode for it: MacPas.

Mode MacPas is a compatibility mode. It is probably not possible to mimic the Mac Pascal dialect in detail. So the goal is to implement often used constructs, if this doesn't require too much effort, as well as easy-to-implement constructs.

To use MacPas, add -Mmacpas to the command line or insert the compiler directive {$MODE MACPAS} in the source code.

Note that the mac pascal dialect and mac targets are not interrelated. It is thus possible to write a mac program with the turbo dialect and to write a Windows program with the mac dialect.

The following are supported: Mac compiler directives like $SETC, $IFC, $ELSEC, $ENDC, $J, $Z. Most of the constructs found in interface files, especially Apples Universal Interfaces. Cycle, Leave, Otherwise. More is planned.

More updated info on the Wiki page.

Mac Os Compiler

By Olle Raab

Free Download C++ Compiler For Mac Os X

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Latest modified 2005-07-28