newbie Xcode question

I'm just learing to program this year, starting with python and C. So far I've been using Idle for python, and 'lcc' on the Uni computers for C.

But now I want to do C on my mac, and Xcode seems a bit overkill for my purposes. I can't get my head around the whole 'project' business. At this stage, all i want to do is run small, simple, single file programs e.g a word counter or an average calculator....

...Any advice on what to do would be appreciated.

EDIT: just read the 'courtesy guidlines' and realized my thread title violated two of the three guidlines. sorry...

It sounds like you've already installed Xcode. If so, you've already got the gcc compiler that can be run from the command line in Terminal. However, Xcode can be used quite simply for this type of stuff, too. For the sort of programs you want to build, if you just create a new project by selecting "Standard Tool" from the "Command Line Utility" category, you'll end up with a plain ole' C source file to edit.

Thank, i got it. I've heard i could use terminal before too, but I don't know how to use that. I guess I should learn that too...