C compilers and Unix-like environments
Linux
C files can be compiled on any Linux system using gcc -x c filename.c, clang -x c filename.c, or llvm-gcc -x c filename.c. Most systems will have only one of these three installed; it does not matter which one you use. Makefiles we distribute may sometimes assume gcc, but you ought to be able to edit them if necessary.
If you have a C compiler installed on Linux, you very likely have other important build tools like make also installed. If not, many Linux distributions have a build-essential or similarly named package you can install that will ensure that utilities needed for compiling typical C programs/etc. are installed.
Windows
On Windows, the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), Microsoft’s own Linux port is a good option. You may need to do something like sudo apt install build-essential gdb to get a C compiler and debugger installed after setting up WSL.
MinGW project has a version of gcc that will probably work for most C labs, though you will need to install it yourself. Microsoft’s compiler toolchain can compile C using cl.exe /Tc filename.c, but we have never tested how well it works. If you do, please report how you found it.
Alternatively, the following all attempt to create more complete Unix-like environments for Windows:
- Cygwin, which tries to add the entirety of the GNU project to windows
- MSYS, a lighter-weight GNU environment associated with the MinGW project
- MSYS2, a re-design of MSYS
OS X
On OS X, Xcode ships with a version of clang or with llvm-gcc (they call it just gcc). On some versions of the OS it is located inconveniently (/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/usr/bin/gcc in 10.7 Lion
) but can be placed where you can more easily access it from the Terminal via XCode’s Preferences → Downloads → Command Line Tools → Install.
We believe that Xcode also comes with a suitable make, and you should be able to install Python3 in a straightforward matter for when that is required.
Other
If you use another OS (FreeBSD, Haiku, Irix, etc) hopefully you know how run a C compiler already.