lauren%RAND-UNIX@vortex.UUCP (01/05/84)
Greetings. I keep getting reports that the C86 compiler is superior to Lattice. If anybody can provide the answers to a few questions about C86, I'd sure appreciate it. The Questions: 1) How much does the beastie cost? 2) Does it support the full MSDOS 2.0 directory structure for filename access (that is, the Unix-style pathnames)? 3) Do they have any restriction/royalty requirements for selling code compiled/linked via their software? 4) Does anybody have any useful tales regarding use of the C86 compiler? Comparisons with Lattice, in particular, would be useful. Thanks much, all. --Lauren--
HUNEYCUTT%GUNTER-ADAM@sri-unix.UUCP (01/11/84)
From: Doug <HUNEYCUTT@GUNTER-ADAM> Lauren, et al I've talked to George Eberhardt of CI a couple of times a week for the past 7 months, as we're beta testing C86 on a Z-100 here. Latest word about new stuff is as follows: New versions (as mentioned earlier) for release in early 84. Will include small and large models, and full MS-DOS 2.0 and later support. This makes sense, as the package is under development on an XT. Cost is still around $400. An overlay linker, similar to Lattice's, will be available 'soon', but won't cost anywhere near the $400 that Lifeboat charges over and above the $500 for Lattice C. C86 currently supports overlays, but the usage is pretty kludgey. No royalties have been imposed for stuff you develop. Also makes sense, since the output from an optimising compiler is relatively impossible to take apart. Some very interesting things are on the horizon. The version currently in the works (release around mid-summer) runs the Byte benchmark in around 4 seconds. The original release ran it in 17 secs, and the current optimizing beta runs it in around 12. Also mentioned from two different sources in CI is a currently working C interpreter. This could be handy. Is uses most of the existing library for C86, and is reputed to be compatible with the compiler. (not released yet, so this officially falls under the classification of 'rumor'). My dealings with vendors have shown me one disturbing thing about the recent adoption of Lattice at the Microsoft C compiler. This is that Microsoft has liscensed Lattice THROUGH Lifeboat! This means that for us to get a vendor (Zenith, IBM, TI, etc) to offer us Lattice means a chain of 4 organizations we would have to pass through to get bug reports, etc, back to the authors. My dealings with both Lifeboat and Microsoft have been very discouraging from the user support standpoint. CI has shown an interest in user experiences greater than any I have experienced. These facts alone would convince me to buy C86, even if I didn't think that it was clearly the better package. Doug -------