Matt%UMass.BITNET@wiscvm.ARPA (03/12/86)
Hi,
Does anyone know of a good public domain (or freeware) Pascal compiler
for CP/M? If so, please let me know how I can obtain it. Send a letter
to this file or to Matt%UMass.BITNET@wiscvm.ARPA. Thanks!
Matt Kimmeltreid@MITRE.ARPA (03/12/86)
Matt: I know of no "robust" PD Pascal compiler - there are several based on the Pascal0 in Algorithms + Data Structures = Programs by Niklaus Wirth but they are small subsets. Sport the $49 (originally - now more) for Turbo Pascal by Borland. There is a ton of PD programs written for it on various bulletin boards.
rbloom@apg-1.ARPA (03/12/86)
I have to second Tom Reid's answer about Pascals - Turbo is the best available and is cheap besides. If you run a IBM-clone it is very cheap - of the order of $29 from mail order houses. On the other hand, if it's CP/M-80 that you're looking for not CP/M-88 or -86; it a bit more expensive. I went through a long painfull process to buy a CP/M-80 version at a reasonable price - best I could do was $59 from Programmers Shop. (Good place to deal with - most places don't know what CP/M is - one dodo even asked if it was IBM-compatible!) Alternately, dealling directly with Borland is not too bad either - if I were to do it all again I would probably deal direct and hange the hassle. BTW, it really is as good as all the reviews say. I'm not a pro programmer, had to buy it for a college course I'm taking as I couldn't get to the supplied computer... (I hesitate to say this, but there *is* a P.D. Pascal compiler in the simtel20 archives SIG/M vol something-or-the-other. It is JRT Pascal and I've been told it's not worth the 'cost' of downloading. I haven't tried it, and know of no one that likes or uses it.)
tom@MITRE-BEDFORD.ARPA (03/12/86)
Hi: Why use "free" Pascal? Turbo Pascal is: 1 cheap. 2 reasonably well documented and supported by Borland. 3 very well Known by all and sundry. 4 fast and compact. If Turbo Pascal doesn't suit you, there is always 'NEVADA' Pascal by Ellis Computing; however, this Pascal is somewhat simplistic and requires a separate editor to create source code - where Turbo Pascal provides a nice little full screen editor. Ellis technical support ranges from nill to worse than none; all in all I don't recommend them. Turbo Pascal can be optained with tutorial documentation and disks for under $100.00. Why go with the obscure and generic when you can have a 'standard' without mortgaging your life away? Trevor McCarthy The MITRE Corporation
jay@ethos.UUCP (Jay Denebeim) (03/25/86)
It's been awhile since I heard this, but from what I recall, Ellis
Computing bought the rights to JRT Pascal when JRT folded. Also, contrary to
the previous message, JRT is *NOT* public domain. The documentation DID
however say that you could give copies to your friends, so I guess it comes
down to about the same thing. As a side note, the JRT folks were the ones to
come up with the idea of an inexpensive compiler. They failed in the
marketplace because even though the price was right $29.95, the program wasn't
worth anything. It is not a compiler, it's a pseudo-compiler, it goes to
P-Code like UCSD Pascal. JRT is worth a try, especially if you can find it
locally, it did have some nice features. Turbo however is a much better
compiler, it's fast and although it has some limitations, compiles to native
code.
--
Jay Denebeim "One world, one egg, one basket."
{seismo,decvax,ihnp4}!mcnc!rti-sel!ethos!jay
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