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GNU Compiler Collection VS Emscripten

Compare GNU Compiler Collection VS Emscripten and see what are their differences

GNU Compiler Collection logo GNU Compiler Collection

The GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) is a compiler system produced by the GNU Project supporting...

Emscripten logo Emscripten

Emscripten is an LLVM to JavaScript compiler.
  • GNU Compiler Collection Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-05-12
  • Emscripten Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-08-02

GNU Compiler Collection features and specs

  • Open Source
    GCC is free software and its source code is open to the public, allowing developers to contribute, modify, and distribute it.
  • Cross-Platform
    GCC supports a wide range of hardware architectures and operating systems, making it highly versatile for different development environments.
  • Multi-language Support
    It supports multiple programming languages, including C, C++, Fortran, Ada, Go, and more, providing flexibility for developers working in different contexts.
  • Optimization
    GCC provides powerful optimization capabilities that can improve the performance of the compiled code significantly.
  • Strong Community
    There is a large and active community of users and developers that contribute to the project's continuous improvement and provide extensive support.

Possible disadvantages of GNU Compiler Collection

  • Complexity
    GCC can be complex and somewhat daunting for beginners due to its wide array of command-line options and settings.
  • Compilation Speed
    In some cases, GCC can be slower to compile compared to some commercial compilers, particularly at high optimization levels.
  • Error Messages
    The error diagnostics can sometimes be cryptic or less user-friendly, which can make debugging difficult for less experienced programmers.
  • Default Settings
    GCC defaults might not always be the most optimized for every use case, requiring users to manually configure options for best performance.

Emscripten features and specs

  • Cross-platform compatibility
    Emscripten enables developers to compile C and C++ code to WebAssembly or JavaScript, allowing the same codebase to run on multiple platforms, such as browsers and node.js, without needing additional platform-specific adaptations.
  • Leverage existing libraries
    Developers can utilize a vast ecosystem of existing C and C++ libraries by compiling them for the web, saving time and resources required for rewriting or finding alternatives developed in JavaScript.
  • Performance optimization
    Emscripten's compilation to WebAssembly provides near-native performance for web applications, making it suitable for compute-intensive tasks like gaming, simulations, and data processing.
  • Familiar toolchain
    Developers can use familiar tools like CMake and others as part of their Emscripten workflow, making it easier for those with C/C++ backgrounds to adapt and integrate into their web development processes.

Possible disadvantages of Emscripten

  • Steep learning curve
    Developers unfamiliar with C and C++ may find Emscripten challenging to use effectively, as it requires knowledge of these languages and their build systems to create and debug applications.
  • Limitations in browser environments
    Certain features of C/C++ may not translate directly to web environments due to browser sandboxing constraints, leading to potential issues with file I/O, threading, and other system-level operations.
  • Code size
    Compiled WebAssembly and JavaScript code can sometimes be large, potentially affecting load times and performance, especially on lower-end devices with restrictive bandwidth or processing capabilities.
  • Debugging complexity
    Debugging WebAssembly code can be more complex than traditional JavaScript, requiring specialized tooling and techniques to trace and fix issues effectively.

GNU Compiler Collection videos

The GNU Compiler Collection, Dr Jeremy Bennett at Manchester Free Software

More videos:

  • Review - What's New in the GNU Compiler Collection

Emscripten videos

Monster Madness Online (Emscripten Web Technology Overview)

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to GNU Compiler Collection and Emscripten)
IDE
57 57%
43% 43
Email Marketing
50 50%
50% 50
Project Management
62 62%
38% 38
Text Editors
61 61%
39% 39

User comments

Share your experience with using GNU Compiler Collection and Emscripten. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Social recommendations and mentions

Emscripten might be a bit more popular than GNU Compiler Collection. We know about 47 links to it since March 2021 and only 41 links to GNU Compiler Collection. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

GNU Compiler Collection mentions (41)

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Emscripten mentions (47)

  • Ask HN: Qt style "Signals and Slots" based JavaScript UI library?
    The first thing that comes to mind is that Qt now has a WebAssembly port[1] using Emscripten[2], so depending on your use-case, you could possibly just run Qt on the Web platform and avoid the need for a JavaScript framework entirely. [1]: https://doc.qt.io/qt-5/wasm.html [2]: https://emscripten.org. - Source: Hacker News / 12 days ago
  • Ask HN: Resources for Learning Graphics Programming
    Me and a friend build our own Graphics engines based on https://learnopengl.com I can highly recommend this to everyone who gets started with computer graphics. It is a lot of new information but not the most modern Graphics library, but the information will help you understand the field and pickup any other graphics library quicker. Once I had a small project up and running I started looking at... - Source: Hacker News / 7 months ago
  • Software Applications Incorporated
    Https://infinitemac.org, which is https://basilisk.cebix.net compiled for the web using https://emscripten.org. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • How does one get started with unit testing?
    One place that I’ve found some real, open source unit tests to look at for an example is in the emsdk for emscripten: https://emscripten.org. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Playing with low-level memory in WebAssembly
    I am playing around with Emscipten which wraps around clang to compile C/C++ code in WASM binary and provide some glue-code API to embed WASM binary into JavaScript. Look into MDN Docs and Emscripten SDK to get started. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing GNU Compiler Collection and Emscripten, you can also consider the following products

clang - C, C++, Objective C and Objective C++ front-end for the LLVM compiler.

WebAssembly - Application and Data, Languages & Frameworks, and Languages

Tiny C Compiler - The Tiny C Compiler is an x86, x86-64 and ARM processor C compiler created by Fabrice Bellard.

Cheerp - Enterprise-grade C/C++ compiler for Web applications. Compiles to WASM/JavaScript

LLVM - LLVM is a compiler infrastructure designed for compile-time, link-time, run-time, and...

Portable C Compiler - pcc is a C99 compiler which aims to be small, simple, fast and understandable.