greg@nmtvax.UUCP (05/24/84)
New Mexico Tech is about (approximately September) to hatch a
version 7 C compiler for DEC-20s running TOPS-20, and we have
some interest in selling said compiler to other TOPS-20 sites.
Our best guess as to cost is something like 500 dollars for
educational sites (colleges and universities) and 2500 dollars
for non-educational sites (big business).
First, a short description of what we expect to offer:
1) Not just another hack of the version of the portable C
compiler which is available on -20s, but a completely
new implementation.
2) Output in .REL file format, instead of MACRO-20, which is
what is produced by all of the other compilers I've seen
for -20s.
3) A code generator which goes to some effort to emit code
which makes full use of the -20 instruction set.
4) An eyacc parser, as exemplified by the 4.xbsd Pascal
compiler (not interpreter), with good error reporting and
recovery.
5) Support for calling TOPS-20 FORTRAN (thus access to all of
the floating-point functions).
6) Decent compilation speed, on the order of 40,000
lines/minute of cpu time, assuming some average mix of
preprocessor commands, comments, and real code.
7) Behavior which is highly compatible with that of the
VAX/VMS C compiler.
Thus, a question:
How much interest is there in such a compiler?
If you like the idea but not the price, tell me anyway. To
some limit, we would rather distribute lots of compilers for
less money per each than a few compilers for more each.
Please reply to me personally instead of to the net.
thanks,
greg
--
Greg Titus ..!ucbvax!unmvax!nmtvax!greg (uucp)
NM Tech Computer Center ..!cmcl2!lanl-a!nmtvax!greg (uucp)
Box W209 C/S greg.nmt@rand-relay (arpa)
Socorro, NM 87801 greg@nmt (CSnet)
(505) 835-5735
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