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Tiny C Compiler VS SuperCollider

Compare Tiny C Compiler VS SuperCollider and see what are their differences

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Tiny C Compiler logo Tiny C Compiler

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

SuperCollider logo SuperCollider

A real time audio synthesis engine, and an object-oriented programming language specialised for...
  • Tiny C Compiler Landing page
    Landing page //
    2019-11-06
  • SuperCollider Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-04-25

Tiny C Compiler features and specs

  • Fast Compilation
    Tiny C Compiler (TCC) is known for its incredibly fast compilation speed, which makes it ideal for quick compilations and testing.
  • Small Size
    TCC has a very small footprint compared to other compilers, making it easy to include in applications and use in environments with limited resources.
  • C99 Support
    TCC provides support for the C99 standard, allowing the use of newer C language features.
  • Dynamic Code Generation
    TCC can compile and execute code dynamically, which can be useful for scripting or embedded contexts.
  • Simplified Licensing
    Under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL), TCC can be more easily used in various projects, including proprietary ones, compared to compilers with more restrictive licenses.

Possible disadvantages of Tiny C Compiler

  • Limited Optimization
    TCC does not perform extensive optimization, which can result in less efficient executable code compared to compilers like GCC or Clang.
  • Incomplete C Standard Library
    TCC's standard C library implementation is not as complete as those of more established compilers, which might lead to compatibility issues.
  • Lack of Detailed Documentation
    Users may find the available documentation lacking in detail, which can hinder learning and debugging for complex projects.
  • Limited Platform Support
    TCC is primarily designed for smaller-scale applications and lacks some platform-specific and cross-compilation capabilities.
  • Fewer Community Resources
    Compared to major compilers like GCC or Clang, TCC has a smaller user community, which can mean fewer tutorials, forums, and third-party support tools.

SuperCollider features and specs

  • Powerful Synthesis Engine
    SuperCollider offers a powerful real-time audio synthesis engine that allows users to create complex and nuanced sounds, making it ideal for experimental music and sound design.
  • Extensive Library of Ugens
    SuperCollider comes with a comprehensive library of unit generators (UGens), which are ready-made building blocks for audio and control signal processing.
  • Flexibility
    SuperCollider supports a wide range of methods for sound generation and manipulation, from simple waveform synthesis to algorithmic composition and live coding.
  • Cross-Platform
    SuperCollider is cross-platform and runs on macOS, Windows, and Linux, making it accessible to a wide range of users.
  • Open Source
    Being open-source, SuperCollider is free to use and has an active community that contributes to its development, ensuring it continually evolves and improves.
  • Live Coding
    SuperCollider supports live coding, allowing users to write and modify code in real-time during performances, which is highly valued in the experimental and electronic music communities.
  • Integrated Development Environment (IDE)
    SuperCollider includes its own IDE, which provides features like syntax highlighting, code completion, and documentation tools, making it more accessible to users.

Possible disadvantages of SuperCollider

  • Steep Learning Curve
    SuperCollider has a steep learning curve, particularly for those who are new to programming or digital signal processing, which can be initially discouraging.
  • Sparse Documentation
    While there is documentation available, some users find it sparse or difficult to understand compared to other music programming environments, making it harder to learn.
  • Complex Syntax
    The syntax of SuperCollider can be complex and less intuitive for beginners, which can result in a slower learning process for new users.
  • Performance Overheads
    Real-time performance might suffer on less powerful hardware due to the computational demands of complex synthesis and processing tasks.
  • Fragmented Community Resources
    Although there is a community around SuperCollider, resources such as tutorials and forums can be fragmented and vary in quality, which can make finding reliable help challenging.
  • Limited GUI Capabilities
    SuperCollider's native GUI capabilities are limited and less polished compared to more specialized software for graphical user interfaces.

Analysis of SuperCollider

Overall verdict

  • Yes, SuperCollider is considered a very good tool, especially for those interested in experimental music and sound art. It is widely used by musicians, composers, and researchers within the digital audio community, largely due to its expansive feature set and supportive community.

Why this product is good

  • SuperCollider is highly regarded for its capabilities in sound synthesis and algorithmic composition. It offers a powerful and flexible environment for sound design, live coding, and generative music. The platform is open-source, which allows users to contribute and extend its functionalities. Its programming language is specifically designed for music and audio, providing a rich and versatile set of tools for creating complex auditory experiences.

Recommended for

  • Musicians looking to create experimental or generative music
  • Sound designers interested in creating complex audio environments
  • Composers specializing in algorithmic composition
  • Researchers focusing on audio synthesis and digital signal processing
  • Artists looking for an open-source platform for live coding and sound art

Tiny C Compiler videos

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SuperCollider videos

Making Music with SuperCollider

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Tiny C Compiler and SuperCollider)
IDE
100 100%
0% 0
Music Generation
0 0%
100% 100
Text Editors
100 100%
0% 0
3D
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Tiny C Compiler might be a bit more popular than SuperCollider. We know about 37 links to it since March 2021 and only 35 links to SuperCollider. 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.

Tiny C Compiler mentions (37)

  • What every compiler writer should know about programmers (Anton Ertl, 2015) [pdf]
    Some of those already exist, e.g. https://bellard.org/tcc/ However, they're not in widespread use. I would be curious to learn if there's any data/non-anecdotal information as to why. Is it momentum/inertia of GCC/LLVM/MSVC? Are alternative compilers incomplete and can't actually compile a lot of practical programs (belying the "relatively simple program") claim? Or is the performance differential due to... - Source: Hacker News / 6 months ago
  • Git: Introduce Rust and announce that it will become mandatorty
    In theory you should be able to use TCC to build git currently [1] [2]. If you have a lightweight system or you're building something experimental, it's a lot easier to get TCC up and running over GCC. I note that it supports arm, arm64, i386, riscv64 and x86_64. [1] https://bellard.org/tcc/ [2] https://github.com/TinyCC/tinycc. - Source: Hacker News / 11 months ago
  • Weird Lexical Syntax
    > I'm not sure who wants to be able to syntax highlight C at 35 MB per second, but I am now able to do so Fast, but tcc *compiles* C to binary code at 29 MB/s on a really old computer: https://bellard.org/tcc/#speed. - Source: Hacker News / almost 2 years ago
  • Pnut: A C to POSIX Shell Compiler you can Trust
    "Because Pnut can be distributed as a human-readable shell script (`pnut.sh`), it can serve as the basis for a reproducible build system. With a POSIX compliant shell, `pnut.sh` is sufficiently powerful to compile itself and, with some effort, [TCC](https://bellard.org/tcc/). Because TCC can be used to bootstrap GCC, this makes it possible to bootstrap a fully featured build toolchain from only human-readable... - Source: Hacker News / about 2 years ago
  • Cwerg: C-like language that can be implemented in 10kLOC
    For what it's worth you can implement a C compiler in under 10kLOC. The chibi C compiler is only a few thousand lines [1]. There is also Cake [2] and the tiny C compiler [3] which are both relatively small. [1] https://github.com/rui314/chibicc [3] https://bellard.org/tcc/. - Source: Hacker News / over 2 years ago
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SuperCollider mentions (35)

  • Ableton Extensions SDK
    The visual patching part of Max makes sense when you know the history of the program. It was built for musicians working at the forefront of interfacing MIDI with the power of the more compact mainframe computers of the day (PDP-11 IIRC). The 'programming' was done through a GUI running on the first Macintosh. At first there was no audio processing in Max itself, it was purely for generating and manipulating MIDI... - Source: Hacker News / 2 months ago
  • Past Tense: A DragonRuby Sound Installation Built on libpd
    SuperCollider has a longer DSP feature list and a more powerful language. The dealbreaker was deployment: scsynth is a separate process. Shipping a game app that has to spawn and supervise another OS process, on iOS, with sandboxing and lifecycle quirks on top, was more friction than I wanted. libpd, by contrast, runs embedded in the game process. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • Describing musical domain with F#
    At this point, we can produce the array of pitches that are midi notes. To create sound from these notes I've used a specialized programming language called SuperCollider. I won't dive much into details here, but you may have a look at the code if you're interested. Beware, there are quite a lot of branches there and all of them contain some interesting code. - Source: dev.to / almost 2 years ago
  • Ask HN: Create audio software akin to physics engines?
    This is essentially sound design from first principles. There's a good book here: https://www.amazon.com/Designing-Sound-Press-Andy-Farnell/dp/0262014416 Note that the software used (Pure Data) can be replaced by another high-level language (SuperCollider: https://supercollider.github.io/) pretty easily. I know of no "tool" to do what you want because there are few things that are universal to different kinds of... - Source: Hacker News / about 2 years ago
  • Harnessing Screams with Tidal Looper
    Since then, I've been working more and more with TidalCycles. TidalCycles is an open-source live coding framework for creating patterns written in Haskell. TidalCycles uses SuperCollider on the backend, another language I've been using for live coding. Recently, I started using Tidal Looper for live vocal processing. This blog post will walk you through what you need to get started with vocal looping with Tidal... - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Tiny C Compiler and SuperCollider, you can also consider the following products

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

Pure Data - Pd (aka Pure Data) is a real-time graphical programming environment for audio, video, and graphical...

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

Sonic Pi - Sonic Pi is a new kind of instrument for a new generation of musicians. It is simple to learn, powerful enough for live performances and free to download.

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

VCV Rack - A cross-platform modular synthesizer.