[net.lang] Information wanted for Alcyon.

knight@nmtvax.UUCP (03/01/85)

My wife is looking for a C compiler to run on a VME-10 under VersaDOS (no
flames, please) and VMS.  She's seen ads from Alcyon.  Is their product
worthwhile?  How does it compare to Whitesmith C?  What sort of compatibility
is there?

On a similar note, what about C compilers for VMS (preferably with an eye to
compatibility with the compiler on the VME-10)?

Thanks in advance,

Bob

mball@noscvax.UUCP (Michael S. Ball) (03/04/85)

In article <314@nmtvax.UUCP> knight@nmtvax.UUCP writes:
>My wife is looking for a C compiler to run on a VME-10 under VersaDOS (no
>flames, please) and VMS.  She's seen ads from Alcyon.  Is their product
>worthwhile?  How does it compare to Whitesmith C?  What sort of compatibility
>is there?
>
>On a similar note, what about C compilers for VMS (preferably with an eye to
>compatibility with the compiler on the VME-10)?
>
>Thanks in advance,
>
>Bob


We have been using Alcyon's C compiler for about a year now.  It seems
to be pretty stable and handles the whole language (except possibly
enum's, which we haven't tried).

The major problem is that ints are 16 bits long.  This causes difficulties
in moving code from machines where ints and pointers are the same size.
Actually, it causes problems only when the author of the code was
careless about typing, but that seems to be the norm.

The code generated is better than the average pcc derivative.  I haven't
had a copy of Whitesmith C for the 68K so I don't know about that.

My experience with Whitesmith on a Z80 is that the library contains
gratuitous changes from the normal Unix version, prehaps to prove that
it was independently developed.

	Mike Ball
	TauMetric Corporation
	1094 Cudahy Pl. Ste 302
	San Diego, CA 92110
	(619)275-6381

chris@scgvaxd.UUCP (Chris Yoder) (03/06/85)

>In article <314@nmtvax.UUCP> knight@nmtvax.UUCP writes:
>>
>>On a similar note, what about C compilers for VMS (preferably with an eye to
>>compatibility with the compiler on the VME-10)?
>>
>>Thanks in advance,
>>
>>Bob

     Why not just use the DEC C compiler under VMS?  It's got a built in
library of UNIX-type routines, and when V 2.0 of the DEC compiler comes out
you'll be able to use all of the features of the debugger!  (All data
structures aren't fully supported with the debuger yet...)  Best of all, the
DEC C compiler supports the VMS Language calling standard, so you can pass
things around to routines written in other languages ('course *real* C studs
might not find this a feature... :-) )

				-- Chris Yoder

UUCP --- scgvaxd!engvax!chris

<Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean that they're not out to get
you...>

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