ldf@killer.UUCP (Leon Frenkel) (07/21/87)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT:
OXXI, INC.
JOHN HOUSTON
(714)999-6710
BENCHMARK MODULA-2: SOFTWARE CONSTRUCTION SET FROM OXXI
SETS NEW STANDARD FOR PROGRAMMING PRODUCTIVITY
Fullerton, CA - June 26, 1987 - Oxxi's entry into the field of programmer
productivity is the new Modula-2 Software Construction Set called
Benchmark for Amiga Computers. Shipment of Benchmark will begin in
September through Oxxi's standard distribution network.
Benchmark, delivers a highly efficient environment for developing programs
by integrating the primary tools used in software development: an Editor,
Compiler and Linker. The Editor is based on EMACS an editor developed
at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Benchmark's Editor contains
well over 125 commands for dealing with multiple files, windows, and
buffers.
The Compiler implements the entire Modula-2 language as defined by N.
Wirth, the creator of PASCAL and Modula-2 languages. Compilation of
densely packed programs takes place at an average speed of 10,000 lines
per minute with burst speeds of up to 30,000 lines per minute. The
Compiler can be activated by pressing a key while in the Editor,
no time is wasted loading the Compiler in from a floppy disk
since it is always resides in memory.
Once the program is compiled, the Editor automatically positions itself at
the sight of any errors and displays an error message. The error
can the be fixed and the Editor repositioned at the next error by pressing
a key.
Once all parts of the program have been compiled successfully, the
lightning fast Linker is activated by pressing a single key in the Editor.
The program is then linked into a stand alone executable file.
Running the program is as simple as pressing a key from the Editor, or by
using either the Amiga Command Line Interface or the Workbench to
execute the program. Thus a program can be written, compiled, debugged,
and executed without leaving the Editor.
One of the unique features of Benchmark is that it can be used right out
of the box without performing any installation. Most other language
products currently on the market have complex installation procedures
which in many cases discourage their use by beginning programmers. For
the professional developer, programs written in Benchmark Modula-2 can
be distributed without any further licensing requirements from Oxxi.
The Benchmark Modula-2: Software Construction Set includes the following
items:
* Full screen interactive EMACS Editor
* A lightning fast Modula-2 Compiler
* A turbo speed Linker built into the EMACS Editor
* Amiga hardware/software support libraries including: Intuition,
ROM Kernel, AmigaDOS, etc...
* Standard Modula-2 libraries including: FileSystem, InOut, Storage,
Terminal, MathLib0, etc...
* Demonstration programs showing the usage of many of the Amiga
functions, such as windows, graphics, multi-tasking, menus,
gadgets, and many others. Some of the demo programs include
a free-hand paint program, a desktop calculator, a powerful
gadget based directory maintenance program and many others.
* Professionally written documentation, consisting of a User's Guide and
a Reference Guide totaling over 800 pages. The documentation
includes a thorough tutorial and many examples.
* A profiling utility for determining which subroutines are used most in
a Modula-2 program.
* A very fast cross reference utility which can be used on both user
and system created libraries.
* A utility for loading large numbers of files very quickly into RAM
based disks. Very useful for loading libraries into RAM quickly.
* A CLI based stand alone Compiler which can compile any number of
programs in batch mode.
* A CLI based stand alone error lister which can display any errors
encountered in a previous batch compilation.
* A CLI based stand alone Linker which can link any number of programs
in batch mode.
* A true assembly language interface for programmers who may wish to
write some subroutines using the Amiga assembler. Included is a
utility which allows the assembly language subroutines to be
interfaced to any Modula-2 program directly.
The suggested retail price for this incredible product is only $199.
In addition the following add-on products are available for Benchmark
Modula-2. These add-ons can only be used with Benchmark Modula-2 and
provide capabilities not available from any other vendor at any price.
Each add-on product includes extensive documentation and examples.
Shipment of the add-on products will commence in September.
Each of the products described below has a suggested retail price of $99.
1. "C" Language Standard Library: This add-on product implements many
of the functions available in the "C" language standard library. These
functions allow programs originally written in "C" to be moved easily into
the state-of-the-art Benchmark Modula-2 programming environment. New
Modula-2 programs can also take advantage of "C" functions to perform
many advanced functions. The following is a sample of the functions
included in this package:
* printf, fprintf, ... - the formatted output functions
* scanf, fscanf, ... - the formatted input functions
* fopen, fclose, fseek, ... - the buffered i/o functions
* open, close, create, lseek - the un-buffered i/o functions
* malloc, calloc, free - the memory management functions
* and many others ...
2. Simplified Amiga Libraries: This add-on product is useful to both the
beginner and the professional programmer. For beginners it performs
functions they would not normally be capable to performing. For
professional programmers it can save weeks of programming and debugging
routines which are useful in almost every Amiga program. The following
is a partial list of the libraries included and the functions they perform:
* SimpleScreens - easy Intuition screen creation
* SimpleWindows - easy Intuition window creation
* SimpleGadgets - easy Intuition gadget creation
* SimpleMenus - easy Intuition menu creation
* SimpleConsole - easy console device handling
* SimpleIDCMP - easy Intuition IDCMP port handling
* SimpleSpeech - easy speech synthesizer handling
* SimpleGels - easy Graphics Elements creation
* SimpleDBuf - easy double buffered animation handling
* and many others ...
3. IFF Libraries, Graphic Image Resource Management: This add-on
product consists of two very useful components. The first is a
set of libraries for dealing with Interchange File Format(IFF) Files and
the full documentation of the IFF format. The second is a library and
utility program which allow bit-mapped images to be integrated into
Modula-2 programs as a resource. The supplied utility reads IFF images
and converts them into on of three formats appending the result to the
executable Modula-2 program as a resource. At run-time the Modula-2
program can access those images easily. This method is much more
efficient than reading the images in from external files. The three image
formats currently supported are Intuition or BOB format, Simple Sprite
format, and Virtual Sprite format. This product is ideal for any program
which utilizes graphics imagery.
Modula-2 is the successor language to Pascal and is specifically designed
for development rather than just classroom instruction. It is easy to
learn especially for programmers familiar with Pascal, "C", or another
higher-level language. It is characterized as highly structured with a
small and consistent core language. One of Modula-2's outstanding traits
is that a program listing is easy to understand even if the original author
did not include any comments. Universities are beginning to use Modula-2
as a replacement for PASCAL because it is simple enough for introductory
programming courses, yet powerful enough to solve complex programming
problems.
Test runs of similar Modula-2 and "C" programs compiled on Aztec "C"
produced object code files of like size and execution speed. Oxxi's
President, John Houston, stated: "Benchmark is the most outstanding
developer environments we have seen for personal computers on any
machine in any language."
Benchmark Modula-2 represents Oxxi's commitment to publishing
state-of-the-art software. Oxxi is fast becoming one of the leading
business productivity software publishers for the Amiga.
Oxxi was founded in 1985 by John Houston. Mr. Houston has been
associated with the successful launching and marketshare expansions of
several well known micro computer software programs. As Manager of
Marketing at Sorcim, he helped design and market the first version of
SuperCalc. Later at Ashton-Tate in the capacity of Director of Product
Marketing, he orchestrated the marketing effort for dBase II and III,
which are still considered the marketshare leaders for databases in the
PC environment.
bpendlet@esunix.UUCP (Bob Pendleton) (07/29/87)
in article <1168@killer.UUCP>, ldf@killer.UUCP (Leon Frenkel) says: > Xref: esunix comp.sys.amiga:6433 comp.lang.modula2:248 comp.lang.pascal:193 > > BENCHMARK MODULA-2: SOFTWARE CONSTRUCTION SET FROM OXXI > SETS NEW STANDARD FOR PROGRAMMING PRODUCTIVITY > > The suggested retail price for this incredible product is only $199. > > In addition the following add-on products are available for Benchmark > Modula-2. > Each of the products described below has a suggested retail price of $99. > > 1. "C" Language Standard Library: This add-on product implements many > 2. Simplified Amiga Libraries: This add-on product is useful to both the > 3. IFF Libraries, Graphic Image Resource Management: This add-on This is the kind of product I've been waiting for. If it is real it could be truely wonderful. But, how much memory does it require? How much disk space does it use? What is their upgrade policy? How about bug fixes? What about technical support? What kind of documentation is supplied? What dealers are going to carry this product? Is it copy protected? How are the manuals printed? Is it 2nd or 3rd edition Modula-2 or is it standards committee Modula-2? If I buy the first release of a $500 software product I expect free, and immediate, bug fixes and upgrades for at least a year. And there is noway I will buy it without a "test drive" at a dealer. If it were priced at $50 plus $25 for each add-on and I knew it would run on a 512K dual drive A1000, I'd have a check in the mail today. But instead of giving me useful information they wasted net bandwidth telling me that the president of the company helped sell some piece of software that I've only heard bad things about. Well maybe that is useful. Sorry for the flaming tone of this message, but I got very upset wading through all the hype about a product I REALLY WANT and not finding any technical information! I guess I'll just have to wait for a review in BYTE, and hope Go Amigo, offers it for a good price. Bob Pendleton -- Bob Pendleton @ Evans & Sutherland UUCP Address: {decvax,ucbvax,ihnp4,allegra}!decwrl!esunix!bpendlet Alternate: {ihnp4,seismo}!utah-cs!utah-gr!uplherc!esunix!bpendlet I am solely responsible for what I say.
ldf@killer.UUCP (Leon Frenkel) (08/03/87)
in article <418@esunix.UUCP>, from bpendlet@esunix.UUCP (Bob Pendleton): >> in article <1168@killer.UUCP>, ldf@killer.UUCP (Leon Frenkel) says: >> Xref: esunix comp.sys.amiga:6433 comp.lang.modula2:248 comp.lang.pascal:193 >> >> BENCHMARK MODULA-2: SOFTWARE CONSTRUCTION SET FROM OXXI >> SETS NEW STANDARD FOR PROGRAMMING PRODUCTIVITY >> >> The suggested retail price for this incredible product is only $199. >> >> In addition the following add-on products are available for Benchmark >> Modula-2. > >> Each of the products described below has a suggested retail price of $99. >> >> 1. "C" Language Standard Library: This add-on product implements many >> 2. Simplified Amiga Libraries: This add-on product is useful to both the >> 3. IFF Libraries, Graphic Image Resource Management: This add-on > >This is the kind of product I've been waiting for. If it is real it could >be truely wonderful. But, how much memory does it require? How much disk >space does it use? What is their upgrade policy? How about bug fixes? What >about technical support? What kind of documentation is supplied? What >dealers are going to carry this product? Is it copy protected? How are >the manuals printed? Is it 2nd or 3rd edition Modula-2 or is it standards >committee Modula-2? From the mail we have been receiving, a lot of people agree with you that our Modula-2 is a truely wonderful product. Since many of the messages sent via mail ask many of the same questions I decided that a public reply to the above questions is apropriet. >If it is real it could be truely wonderful. YES, everything listed in the press release is finished and has been extensivly field tested. Further, most of the product has been operational since the end of last year and has been in daily use by our beta testers since that time. >But, how much memory does it require? Amiga A500, A1000 or A2000 with 512K of memory. On a 512K Amiga the user can have the EMACS Editor, Modula-2 Compiler, Modula-2 Linker and still have plently of room to load large Modula-2 programs into the editor to be compiled/linked/run. By adding as little as 512K of expansion memory the user can keep the Modula-2 libraries entirely in RAM and have a lot more additional memory to use for source text. >How much disk space does it use? The Modula-2 Compiler/Linker and EMACS Editor use less than 200K of disk space, however they are only loaded once and so it is not necessary to keep the disk containing them in the drive. The Modula-2 Libraries, including those in all of the add-on products occupie aproximately 50% of a disk. To put this in perspective some of our beta testers use the product on a 1 drive Amiga without any problems. Most of the beta testers up until recently have used the product on 512K 2-drive Amiga's with excellent results. >What is their upgrade policy? Upgrades with new features and major improvements will be available at aprox. $20 - $60 depending on the amount of new documentation, etc... >How about bug fixes? Bug fixes if there are any necessary, will be made available immediately at minial cost. >What about technical support? Telephone support will be provided by OXXI during normal business hours by our technical support staff. >What kind of documentation is supplied? Professionally written documentation, consisting of a User's Guide and a Reference Guide totaling over 800 pages. The documentation includes a thorough tutorial and many examples. Each add on product also includes extensive documentation describing the functions performed by each module. >What dealers are going to carry this product? The products will be available through all Amiga dealers. The products will be available world wide: U.S., Canada, U.K., Germany, Australia, etc... You can also purchase the products directly from OXXI. >Is it copy protected? NO, we beleive that our customers are honest and would never even consider making unauthorized copies of our products. >How are the manuals printed? All manuals are typeset and arranged by our documentation staff. >Is it 2nd or 3rd edition Modula-2 or is it standards committee Modula-2? The Modula-2 Compiler is based on the 3rd editor of N. Wirth's book Programming in Modula-2. The compiler also implements some useful extensions such as underscores in identifiers, and "C" language style string literals (i.e., "msg\n\r"). >If I buy the first release of a $500 software product I expect free, and >immediate, bug fixes and upgrades for at least a year. I would like to clarify the above statement, the suggested retail price for this product is $199 and it will be available through mail order dealers for even less. While it is true that this is the first release of the product, unlike many of the products you may be familiar with this product was more reliable in beta test form that most of the current products on the market after several releases! (I don't want to mention names.) The add-on products described in the press release are seperate products and should be considered as such. They are very useful but are certainly not required in order to write Modula-2 programs. >And there is noway I will buy it without a "test drive" at a dealer. > ... >I guess I'll just have to wait for a review in BYTE, and hope Go Amigo, >offers it for a good price. The product is currently being reviewed by most of the Amiga related magazines, a review in BYTE would be great but will probably not be possible in the near future, since they don't review Amiga products very often. I apreciate your desire to "test drive" the product, however I think in all fairness you should then make the purchase from the same dealer where you took the "test drive". At this time we have decided to make a pre-released version of the product available now to users who wish to begin using the product immediately. The pre-released product also contains ALL THREE of the add-on products mentioned in the announcement. The price is for this pre-release version is $199. The update to the final version is free to users who purchase the pre-release version now. I wan't to be perfectly clear on this point, the $199 price is a one time offer for the pre-released version and does not in any way effect the prices specified in the press release. To order the pre-release version contact OXXI at (714)-999-6710 and talk to John Houston. (* Leon Frenkel *) =========================================================================== Leon Frenkel (Chief Scientist) Oxxi, Inc. 1835-A Dawns Way Fullerton, California 92631 Phone: (714)-999-6710 FAX Machine: (714)-999-1045 UUCP Address: ...!killer!ldf ===========================================================================