A Comprehensive Guide to Installing C Language on Different Operating Systems

C language is a popular, versatile, and widely used programming language. However, before you can start writing, compiling, and running C programs, you need to set up a C environment on your system. This involves installing a C compiler and a text editor¹. In this blog post, we will guide you through the installation process for different operating systems.

Windows

Turbo C++

One of the most common ways to install C on Windows is by using Turbo C++. Here are the steps²:

1. Download Turbo C++ software.
2. Create a turbo c directory in the c drive and extract tc3.zip.
3. Give permission to install C.
4. Change drive to C.
5. Press enter to start the installation.
6. Once the installation is complete, Turbo C++ is ready to use.

MinGW

MinGW is another popular option for installing GCC and G++ compilers for the C and C++ programming languages³. Here’s how to install it:

1. Download an executable file from MSYS2.
2. Install MSYS2.
3. Open the MSYS2 terminal and update the package database and base packages.
4. Install the GCC and G++ compilers.

UNIX/Linux

If you’re using UNIX/Linux, a C compiler called GCC is probably already installed on your system⁴. You can check by typing gcc -v at the command prompt⁴. If it’s not installed, you can download it from gcc.gnu.org/install⁴.

MAC

For MAC users, the Xcode development environment comes with GNU C/C++ compiler⁴. You can install it from Apple’s website⁴.

Remember, regardless of your operating system, once you’ve installed your compiler, you’ll need to set the path for the compiler to the environment path variable⁵. Then you can write a c program, save it with extension .c, and execute it⁵.

We hope this guide helps you get started with C programming on your system. Happy coding!

References

²: EDUCBA ⁴: W3Schools ³: freeCodeCamp.org ⁵: Scaler Topics ¹: Tutorials Freak