Later we can use the Xcode environment, which is beneficial for managing more complex projects. The quickest and easiest way to compile a simple program is to do it directly in the Terminal. I will assume that you now have either Xcode or Command Line Tools for Xcode installed, if not just have a quick read through the previous section. The package is very small, just over 100MB so it shouldn’t take long! How Do I Compile and Run C++ on a Mac? This will cause a pop-up to appear giving you the option to install. Just open up a Terminal window and enter the following command. You can get Gcc on Mac OS simply by installing something called Command Line Tools for Xcode. However this is one huge package and overkill if you just wish to use gcc from the command line. When you install Xcode, you will get all of the additional tools useful for developers. If you try to execute commands such as gcc or g++ you will get the following error.

Gcc is not installed by default on Mac OS. The GNU system was created to be completely free software, in the sense that it respects the user’s autonomy.įront ends for C, C++, Objective-C, Fortran, Ada, Go, and D, as well as libraries for these languages (libstdc++,…), are included in the GNU Compiler Collection.

GCC was originally designed to be a compiler for the GNU operating system. This means that Mac OS is compatible with the free GNU Compiler Collection, or GCC for short. Yes absolutely! Mac OS is a relative of Linux as both operating systems are derived from UNIX. Go to the App Store and download XCode to install it. So I can confirm that there should be no issues completing any of these steps using an equivalent M1 Mac. Steps to run a C++ program in XCode: You need to download XCode if it is not installed. I have authored this tutorial using an M1 Mac running MacOS Monterey 12.4, including examples and screenshots.

Yes it is certainly possible to compile C++ on a newer M1 Mac which is using an ARM architecture processor.

How to use xcode for c programming