Xcode Tools

I just got the Xcode application, and I want to use it as a compiler for C and C++. Is there any way to do this? If not, what compilers are available for C on a Mac?

Yes, it will compile C and C++ just fine.

X-Code, to a large degree, is simply an interface sitting on top of the gcc compiler.

as i understood it was natively supportive of c, obj-c and c++?

I just got it working. Now onto the next problem. I just compiled my first Hello World program. The first time I compiled with xCode, and the second time I compiled with Terminal's built in GCC compiler. Both times, it just gave me a small 10kb document that OS X didn't know what to do with. As far as I know, isn't compiling supposed to turn it into an application of some sort? Where do I go from here?

Thanks.

You really need to read the X-Code documentation. It really does contain all of the information you are looking for.

When you created your new X-Code project, what kind of project did you create?

And Java and Applescript.

It is creating an executable; its creating a Mach executable, that doesn't have an application wrapper around it. It will run, if you run it from terminal. If you want window systems on mac, I would reccomend looking into Obj-C and the NeXTSTEP library.

Oh by the way, if you don't know how to use terminal to run the application:

Go to: /Applications/Utilities/
open: Terminal
type: cd /path/name/to/executable/folder
type: ./executablename

Nice, great advice--thanks. However, how would I get the application wrapper around it and make it run like a normal mac app?

After you select 'New Project', you have to select the appropriate template for the kind of application you want to create. There are several.

The X-Code documentation will provide all the information you need.

Alright, nice. I'll look into that.

However, just out of curiosity, what did OS X developers use to do this before xCode?

Before X-Code, CodeWarrior
Before CodeWarrior, Symantec's IDE
Before Symantec's IDE, MPW

This is the basic lineage of the IDE's on the Mac (which includes pre OSX). I could mention Think C & Lightspeed C, but chose to group them with Symantec's IDE.