6500chng@ucsbuxa.ucsb.edu (B. N. Cheng) (09/12/90)
Anyone heard of powerC by MIX software ? I 'd like to know if there's any known bugs or deficiencies.
ath@prosys.se (Anders Thulin) (09/12/90)
In article <6266@hub.ucsb.edu> 6500chng@ucsbuxa.ucsb.edu (B. N. Cheng) writes: >Anyone heard of powerC by MIX software ? >I 'd like to know if there's any known bugs or deficiencies. To: 6500chng@ucsbuxa.ucsb.edu Subject: Re: power c Newsgroups: comp.lang.c In-Reply-To: <6266@hub.ucsb.edu> Organization: Telesoft AB, Teknikringen 2A, S-583 30 Linkoping, Sweden Cc: Bcc: In article <6266@hub.ucsb.edu> you write: >Anyone heard of powerC by MIX software ? >I 'd like to know if there's any known bugs or deficiencies. There are. I bought version 2.0.0 earlier this year, mainly to see if the package really was as good as everybody claimed. I was surprised at the quality of the debugger: it is surprisingly good, considered its price. In fact, it almost makes up for the compiler. The compiler isn't quite as good. It does a fairly good job of compiler correct programs, but it isn't good for developing. I think it is a K&R compiler extended to accept prototypes, and the ANSI stuff in the preprocessor, but with no real knowledge about ANSI C. Type checking is a joke. I could assign values to variables declared to be 'const', I could use floats as parameters to functions that used chars in the prototype, and so on without any complaints. The compiler doesn't always use the ANSI C naming rules. For instance, it uses a pseudo-function 'Defined(typename)' (not documented) which is true if the named type has been defined - a good idea for avoiding multiple definitions of the same type. Unfortunately, 'Defined' is in the user name space (according to ANSI), so if you have a program that uses 'Defined' you're in for trouble. I had several. There are several other little bugs: sprintf() doesn't work correctly for some formats, rand()/srand() doesn't work at all as it should, Duff's device fails to compile (no surprise), and so on, and so on. I sent the MIX people a disk with around 14 bugs, some serious, in March. I haven't heard from them, so I can't say how serious they are about fixing bugs. A minor problem is that Power C doesn't use the same object code format that MSDOS uses: you can't use the standard linker. I think MIX C is advertised as producing smaller executables than several other compilers. I believe this is mainly due to their having written large parts of the runtime in assembler. Big programs turned out to be at least as large as with other compilers. If you're don't plan to develop *big* programs, I'd say MIX Power C is worth it's price. If you plan to do serious programming, I suggest trying something else. Hope this is of any help, -- Anders Thulin ath@prosys.se {uunet,mcsun}!sunic!prosys!ath Telesoft Europe AB, Teknikringen 2B, S-583 30 Linkoping, Sweden
hollen@megatek (Dion Hollenbeck) (09/12/90)
In article <6266@hub.ucsb.edu> 6500chng@ucsbuxa.ucsb.edu (B. N. Cheng) writes: > > Anyone heard of powerC by MIX software ? > I 'd like to know if there's any known bugs or deficiencies. Yes, this topic has been discussed SEVERAL times already. Yes, there are some bugs, what software does not have them? They are minor and not worth mentioning (in a year of use, I never encountered them). Yes, there is a known deficiency. The compiler produces .mix files, not .obj files. These .mix files are P-code files which are concatenated onto a P-code interpreter to create the final .exe file which gets run. This is not to say that you cannot use assembly because MIX has thoughtfully provided a .obj to .mix converter fro just this purpose, just that debugging assembly is a real bitch and should be avoided if possible. The other deficiency is the lack of memory models, but again, this is not a problem if you are just trying to learn C, it will only hamper you if you need sophistication later on. If you merely want to learn C and not grab the hardware by the balls, then POWER C is THE BEST value on the market today. The documentation is unsurpassed, the debugger shames Codeview and TD and the price is outrageously low. The documentation is so good that I would recommend a beginner buying the compiler just for the documentation. EVERY function call has a snatch of code on how to use it. I have no connection with MIX other than a satisfied user of several of their products. I currently use Turbo C because I must combine assembly with C and use more diverse memory models for my applicatons. -- Dion Hollenbeck (619) 455-5590 x2814 Megatek Corporation, 9645 Scranton Road, San Diego, CA 92121 uunet!megatek!hollen or hollen@megatek.uucp
catfood@NCoast.ORG (Mark W. Schumann) (09/13/90)
In article <6266@hub.ucsb.edu> 6500chng@ucsbuxa.ucsb.edu (B. N. Cheng) writes: >Anyone heard of powerC by MIX software ? >I 'd like to know if there's any known bugs or deficiencies. Have I heard of it? Only all day today trying to get through to tech support! You should probably avoid this product unless you want to write some fairly simple programs that won't tax the compiler's abilities. I have had some problems with their new version 2.0.0, in the code optimizer phase. It gave me today an error for "Long Jump" and their tech support people could not tell me exactly why it happened (something to do with array bounds!), how to fix it, or at least how to rewrite my code to work around it. Even though this was in the optimization phase, I couldn't use the compiled object file because the optimization step cannot be excluded as with some other compilers. Finally, be aware that the object code produced by Power C is in a proprietary format with an .MIX extension. You can't convert a .MIX file to an .OBJ without reverse engineering the format; but you can convert some .OBJ files to .MIX format with their MIX utility included. I say "some" because they also cannot explain why I keep getting an error message from MIX that says it "Cannot process threads." I asked Mix Software what a thread was and why it can't be processed--no intelligble reply other than "MASM doesn't make threads. Use MASM." So you can't use a reasonably priced assembler to write drivers or error handlers either. Hey, if you need something for quick and dirty C programming that doesn't involve arrays of function pointers (another problem) or mixed-language work, go for it. It's great for the $25. But for real-life production work, get Turbo--not that much more considering the whole environment (including debugger) that comes with the Turbo C++ Professional package. -- ============================================================ Mark W. Schumann 3111 Mapledale Avenue, Cleveland 44109 USA Domain: catfood@ncoast.org UseNet: ...usenet.ins.cwru.edu!ncoast!catfood ============================================================
dans@crpmks.UUCP (Dan Simoes ) (02/06/91)
I just received the latest "Byte block" or whatever it's called, and there is an offer for "Power C -- the ANSI compatible C complier that runs faster than Microsoft C, has more functions than Turbo C, and costs less than the K&R book." Sounds like another Coherent to me... If anyone is using this, or has used it before, please let me know. By the way, the price is $19.95! Please email -- I *will* post a summary. Thanks in advance, Dan Simoes dans@crpmks.UUCP (914) 785-2250 Manhattanville College '92 CIBA-Geigy Corp. Disclaimer: que sera, sera Quote: "Software is overpriced - lower the prices and there will be no piracy" (Me!)
gbastin@x102c.harris-atd.com (Gary Bastin 60293) (02/06/91)
In article <1450@crpmks.UUCP> dans@crpmks.UUCP (Dan Simoes (Info Systems)) writes: >I just received the latest "Byte block" or whatever it's called, and there is >an offer for "Power C -- the ANSI compatible C complier that runs faster than >Microsoft C, has more functions than Turbo C, and costs less than the K&R >book." [I tried mailing this directly, but it bounced...] I have been using Power C for about 2 years now. This includes both versions 1.2, and the relatively recent version 2.0. It is a very good C compiler, giving performance (speed of .exe, and size of .exe) that is comparable to Turbo C and usually better than Microsoft C. Although early versions limited you to just one memory model, now there are multiple memory models available. It tends to be compatible with Turbo, Microsoft and System V, with almost a complete superset of functions that are available under these. The debugger (Ctrace) is much better than codeview or even the debugger built into Turbo C. Mix only charges $5.00 for upgrades to later versions, and the source code is available for $10.00, and this includes an assembler! On the down side, if you have .LIB or .OBJ files that you wish to link, then, unfortunately, this is where Power C fails to perform. Mix uses a proprietary .MIX object file format, and, although there is a conversion utility, I have not been able to always link in .OBJ or .LIB files created with Turbo C or Microsoft C. If you do not need to link in these files (you have all the source code), then Power C is fine. This was the reason I bought Turbo C, BTW! One last note: the documentation provided with Power C is VASTLY SUPERIOR to the documentation provided with Turbo C Version 2.0. I own both, and often refer to the Power C book because there are code snippets demonstrating each and every function. For some of the functions that I don't often use, the Power C book is a great timesaver. I bought Power C when I was taking a course in C programming, and it was great for learning C. It is still very useful now for day to day work, although Turbo C tends to produce slightly smaller .exe files for the same source code. Power C, though, is a bargain; it is well worth the price (~$55 for compiler, debugger, source code, and the excellent documentation!). [ I have no connection with Mix Software except as a satisfied customer ]. -- Gary Bastin, WB4YAF /-/-/ Internet: gbastin@x102c.ess.harris.com Mail Stop 102-4826 | phone: (407) 729-3045 Harris Corporation GASD | P.O.B. 94000, Melbourne FL 32902 Speaking from, but not for, Harris! Gary Bastin, WB4YAF /-/-/ Internet: gbastin@x102c.ess.harris.com Mail Stop 102-4826 | phone: (407) 729-3045 Harris Corporation GASD | P.O.B. 94000, Melbourne FL 32902 Speaking from, but not for, Harris!
dave@tygra.UUCP (David Conrad) (02/11/91)
Hmm. I recently received an advert for Power C. They compared it with Turbo C 1.5 and Microsoft C 4.0. The latest TC is TC++ 1.0 which was to have been TC 3.0, and the latest MSC is, I believe, 6.0. BTW: Power C compared favorably in both speed of benchmarks and size of executables with TC 1.5 and MSC 4.0. Suprise, suprise. Would you buy a used car from these people? -- David R. Conrad tygra!dave@sharkey.cc.umich.edu -- = CAT-TALK Conferencing Network, Computer Conferencing and File Archive = - 1-313-343-0800, 300/1200/2400/9600 baud, 8/N/1. New users use 'new' - = as a login id. AVAILABLE VIA PC-PURSUIT!!! (City code "MIDET") = E-MAIL Address: dave@DDMI.COM
s64421@zeus.usq.EDU.AU (house ron) (02/15/91)
dave@tygra.UUCP (David Conrad) writes: >Hmm. I recently received an advert for Power C. They compared it with >Turbo C 1.5 and Microsoft C 4.0. The latest TC is TC++ 1.0 which was to >have been TC 3.0, and the latest MSC is, I believe, 6.0. > >BTW: Power C compared favorably in both speed of benchmarks and size of >executables with TC 1.5 and MSC 4.0. Suprise, suprise. > >Would you buy a used car from these people? If it looked good and cost $19.95, yes. Just what do some people want? -- Regards, Ron House. (s64421@zeus.usq.edu.au) (By post: Info Tech, U.C.S.Q. Toowoomba. Australia. 4350)
walk@mrcnext.cso.uiuc.edu (Todd Walk) (05/14/91)
I'm needing to get a C compiler and I've limited my choices down to two: Turbo C++ (already have experience w/ this product), and Power C (incredibly low price amoung other features). Since I already have worked with Turbo C++ and not at all with Power C, I'm wondering if anyone in this newsgroup knows these things about Power C: 1:extent of both character based and graphics based windowing/menuing primitives. 2:whether it allows far functions w/ a small memory model. 3:whether it allows // for comments. 4:how thourgh the manuals are in explainations of functions (important: how good are the examples of function useage). 5:ease of use and creation of huge (>64K) arrays w/ a small memory model. 6:ems & xms support, overlay support. 7:286/386 support. 8:ease of insertion of asm. obj. files when compiling. 9:how good is the debugger? especially compared to TD386. Email prefered. Todd Walk walk@mrcnext.cso.uiuc.edu