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IBM XL C/C++ Advanced Edition 6.0 for Mac OS X

This software is still searched for, if you got a copy of this, please contact in the comments and/or upload this

Shortly after the introduction of the first PowerMac G5, in October 2003, IBM released a preview version of its XL C and Fortran compiler suite for the Mac OS X.

The final version of the compiler was released by IBM in January 2004 with the then brandnew G5 processor in mind, but is also working on G4 processors. Because of IBM's knowledge of its own PPC processors, the compiled code for the G4 and G5 is much faster than the same code compiled with the standard gcc 3.3 compiler, as supplied by Apple, while being source- and binary-compatible to it (same situation as for the x86 processor series with Intel compiler vs. Microsoft compiler).
The compilers had to be ordered at IBM.

After Apple's announcement to switch from PPC-based to x86-based Macs in 2005, the IBM compilers were not longer available (there are now Intel compilers for C/C++ and Fortran available for Mac OS X instead). They were discontinued and are to be considered abandonware (latest versions of the compilers are for AIX, Linux and mainframes only (XLC: 12.1, XLFortran: V14.1)):
IBM's Announcement of Product Discontinuation

Information:
Overview
Help
Information PDF

All the Manuals are available here: C/C++ compiler.

Updates are still available on the IBM FTP server:

ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com:21//aix/products/ccpp/ptfs/vacpp.60.macosx.ma...
ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com:21//aix/products/ccpp/ptfs/vacpp.cmp.60.macos...
ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com:21//aix/products/ccpp/ptfs/vacpp.cmp.60.macos...
ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com:21//aix/products/ccpp/ptfs/vacpp.cmp.60.macos...

The Runtime environments are available here:
C/C++ compiler

The compilers worked for Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar and Mac OS X 10.3 Panther, for Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, I found here a workaround.

Here is a report about the possible speed-ups versus the standard gcc compiler:
"Current GCC vs XLC performance comparisons show optimized GCC vs optimized XLC compiles showing improvements of anywhere from 11% to 51% on SPECint2000 scores. For floating point performance, the difference is even more extreme - more of the numbers are over the 50% mark than under; the G4/G5 have always had stronger floating point, and now the compiler backs that up with the appropriate optimizations to make use of the unique features of the architecture that enables that to be true."

See here for the Fortran compiler sister product.

Compatibility
Architecture: PPC

Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar, Mac OS X 10.3 Panther, Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger with workaround

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