info-mac@uw-beaver (12/27/84)
From: <bang!crash!bwebster@Nosc>
Corrections and addenda on my last message:
The MacAdvantage: UCSD Pascal ("Product B") costs $295, not $195, as I had
reported. However, if you buy it between now and 30/jan/85, you will get
both Product A (Mac p-System) and Product B for that price. If you've
already bought Product A and have registered yourself, you can get Product
B for $100.
I've written a simple program for Product A that will set the p-System
date from the Mac clock. If there's any interest, let me know, and I'll
post it here or send it to you.
Product B produces p-code, not machine language (as was hoped for in another
comment). However, the p-code file acts like a stand-alone application, i.e.,
you just double-click it to start it, you can Set Startup on it, and so on.
SofTech is also planning to release a native code generator for Product B
(there's already one in Product A, if you buy the Advanced Development package)
No, the native code generator *doesn't* product pure 68000 code; it converts
what it can and leaves the rest as p-code. You can get some pretty dramatic
speedups, though.
By the way, none of this is to be taken as an endorsement or defense of either
product. I had nothing to do with the development of either one, and so I
don't really care whether you like them or not. I *do* think that Product B
has a lot of potential for true applications work; I hope to develop at least
one freeware program in it. I also want to see how easy it is to take some-
thing I've developed with Product B and recompile it using Lisa Pascal.
..bruce..
Bruce F. Webster
bang!crash!bwebster@nosc
{ihnp4 | sdcsvax!bang}!crash!bwebster