[comp.lang.pascal] Large memory pascal programs & 386

duncan@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Shan D Duncan) (01/19/90)

We need to set up a system to run pascal programs that need large
amounts of memory (1+ Mb).  The programs we would like to run are
from the phylip set and are written in standard pascal but have
been ported to turbo pascal.

Our system is a Zenth386/33 with two mg. and a 387 coprocessor
(We will be adding another 2 Mb of main memory)
At the moment we are considering:

Dos extenders (Phar Lap)
Unix
Unix/Dos hybrids such as merge 386
OS|2


However $$$ balanced against speed is a strong factor. (Speed is
important).

Compilers:

MetaWare professional pascal
Microway NDP Pascal-386

Others ???


I really need basic information on this.  Am I missing an obvious
solution?  Any basic information on any of these combinations OR
any other solutions would be appreciated.  If you have ballpark
figures on speed and money please include.  E-mail or post.  I
will summarize if there is interest.


-Shan Duncan
UWM Biological Sci.
Milw.  WI  53201

bb16@prism.gatech.EDU (Scott Bostater) (01/19/90)

In article <1964@uwm.edu> duncan@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Shan D Duncan) writes:
>
>We need to set up a system to run pascal programs that need large
>amounts of memory (1+ Mb).  The programs we would like to run are
>from the phylip set and are written in standard pascal but have
>been ported to turbo pascal.
>

You didn't mention whether you had one huge array of data or lots of small
arrays.  If you don't need to access arrays >64K then one solution is to 
use EMS memory. TP 4/5/5.5 comes with an example program that shows how to
access EMS memory from within TP.  It isn't exceptionally pretty, but it can
work. (transfering data from one EMS array to another EMS array might be
rather kludgy)

Just a thought,
-- 
Scott Bostater      GTRI/RAIL/RAD   (Ga. Tech)
"My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from Him"  -Ps 62.1
uucp:     ...!{allegra,amd,hplabs,ut-ngp}!gatech!prism!bb16
Internet: bb16@prism.gatech.edu

dmurdoch@watstat.waterloo.edu (Duncan Murdoch) (01/19/90)

In article <5050@hydra.gatech.EDU> bb16@prism.gatech.EDU (Scott Bostater) writes:
>In article <1964@uwm.edu> duncan@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Shan D Duncan) writes:
>>
>>We need to set up a system to run pascal programs that need large
>>amounts of memory (1+ Mb).  The programs we would like to run are
>>from the phylip set and are written in standard pascal but have
>>been ported to turbo pascal.
>>
>
>You didn't mention whether you had one huge array of data or lots of small
>arrays.  If you don't need to access arrays >64K then one solution is to 
>use EMS memory. TP 4/5/5.5 comes with an example program that shows how to
>access EMS memory from within TP.  It isn't exceptionally pretty, but it can
>work. (transfering data from one EMS array to another EMS array might be
>rather kludgy)

Turbopower's Turbo Professional library handles EMS and extended memory well,
and their soon-to-be-released (that's been the status since last August!) 
Object Professional does it even better - your program needn't know whether
it's using EMS, extended, or disk.  Slower than true 32 bit operation, but
well worth looking at.

Duncan Murdoch