g-frank@gumby.UUCP (02/16/85)
I recently upgraded my Logitech Modula-2/86 compiler (IBM PC), and
purchased the new symbolic run-time debugger they offer ($200). This
is a source level debugger (you can't even look at object code),
featuring single-step (statement by statement), breakpointing with
counts, run to procedure call, run to procedure return, full symbolic
display of hierarchical data and program objects, and so forth.
Performance looks excellent. The post-mortem debugger (supplied with
the compiler package) has been rewritten; its user interface and display
formats are a subset of the run-time debugger's.
Improvements to the compiler in V.1.1 include a choice of 8087 in-line
code or emulation for real numbers (or a reals module that detects the
8087 if present), expanded device and interrupt handling facilities,
better speed and more informative displays, and lots of bug fixes. The
package is not cheap at $495 (plus, of course, the $200 for the debugger),
but it is an extraordinarily powerful and well-crafted software engineering
tool. A cross-compiler (VAX to 8086) is also available.
Oh, and the aggravating inability to assign single character string
constants to ARRAY OF CHAR has been fixed, too.
--
Dan Frank
Q: What's the difference between an Apple MacIntosh
and an Etch-A-Sketch?
A: You don't have to shake the Mac to clear the screen.