How to install and run a basic C++ program on an Apple Mac ?

Published: February 13, 2023

Updated: February 18, 2023

Tags: C++; Apple Mac;

DMCA.com Protection Status

I recently purchased an Apple MAC studio with M1 core, and wanted to install and execute a basic C++ program. To achieve this, I followed these steps:

Install C and C++ compilers

Unfortunately if you're a Mac user, Gcc is not included by default as a native feature. If you attempt to execute commands from a terminal such as gcc or g++, the following error will appear: "$ gcc -bash: gcc: command not found".

To quickly and easily install C and C++ compilers, all you have to do is open the terminal window in your system and run this command:

xcode-select --install

It's worth noting that it's not necessary to install Xcode completely - only the command line tool will suffice!

Note: gcc and g++ are both compilers used to compile C and C++ programs. GCC stands for the GNU Compiler Collections, which consists of multiple compilers - two being gcc and g++. While gcc is mainly used to compile C programs, g++ is a more advanced compiler that can be utilized for both programming languages - it is an extended version of the traditional compiler designed specifically for use with C language applications.

Create a basic C++ program

Let's get started on our c++ algorithm! We'll call it moonbooks.cpp and begin by launching a new terminal:

touch moonbooks.cpp

Now, let's open the code with an editor (vi for example)

vi moonbooks.cpp

so we can start coding:

#include <iostream>

int main () {
        std::cout << "Hello Moonbooks!";
        return 0;
}

Now let's make sure to save our work, then exit the file.

Execute your basic C++ program

To compile and create an executable program, simply enter

g++ -o moonbooks moonbooks.cpp

in the command line. Subsequently, to run it just type

moonbooks

In case you're met with a zsh error message that states "command not found: moonbooks" A speedy, short-term fix is to enter the "pwd" command which will give you direct access to the file's executable. Once that's done, simply hit enter!

/Users/Student/Desktop/moonbooks

should print

 Hello Moonbooks!

References

The resources that helped me are listed below for your convenience: