The Solidity compiler

Compilers are used to convert high-level contract source code into the format that the Ethereum execution environment understands. The Solidity compiler, solc, is the most common one in use.

solc converts from a high-level Solidity language into Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) bytecode so that it can be executed on the blockchain by the EVM.

Installing solc

solc can be installed on a Linux Ubuntu operating system using the following command:

$ sudo apt-get install solc

If Personal Package Archives (PPAs) are not already installed, those can be installed by running the following commands:

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ethereum/ethereum
$ sudo apt-get update

To install solc on macOS, execute the following commands:

$ brew tap ethereum/ethereum

This command will add the Ethereum repository to the list of brew formulas:

$ brew install solidity

This command will produce a long output and may take a few minutes to complete...