mdperry@boulder.colorado.edu (Marc D. Perry) (07/31/90)
I recently received a package of postcards from BYTE magazine; each card contains advertising info on a specific product and one of these sounds too good to be true. For 19.95 MIX software will send you the Power C compliler with features like: make, linker, libraries (10 bucks more), 600 page manual, ANSI std., IEEE floating point, automatic register variables, supports all graphics. They also show a small chart comparing Power C with Microsoft C and Borland's Turbo C, needless to say Power C is comparable or faster in every category. I have never bought a compiler before but am considering this one. I would be interested in learning if anyone else has used this program, particularly if you have also used a higher priced compiler and can compare the two. Obviously for 20 bucks you don't get a friendly environment with a built in editor and lots of toggling back and forth to test things and debug them etc. But do I really need those things if I am not a developer? Thanks, mdp Marc D. Perry (303) 492 8258 MCD Biology, Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0347 internet: mdperry@boulder.colorado.edu Marc D. Perry (303) 492 8258 MCD Biology, Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0347 internet: mdperry@boulder.colorado.edu
catfood@NCoast.ORG (Mark W. Schumann) (08/02/90)
In article <24164@boulder.Colorado.EDU> mdperry@beagle (Marc D. Perry) writes: >I recently received a package of postcards from BYTE magazine; each >card contains advertising info on a specific product and one of these >sounds too good to be true. For 19.95 MIX software will send you the >Power C compliler with features like: make, linker, libraries (10 >bucks more), 600 page manual, ANSI std., IEEE floating point, >automatic register variables, supports all graphics. They also show a [lots deleted here] >Marc D. Perry (303) 492 8258 I've used Power C almost exclusively for utilities and just hacking around with DOS. It is an excellent deal. My only major disappointment is that its object files are in a proprietary non-Intel format (.MIX extension), and the tech support people won't tell how to convert a .MIX file to .OBJ. There is, however, a utility included that will make the conversion the other way. Therefore, you can include assembler or other routines in your Power C program, but there is no realistic way to write Power C functions to link into an application written mainly in some other language. Don't believe the /q switch in the documentation--it doesn't work. This has been a major hassle for me as I do a lot of Clipper programming and would like to link in some hot C routines... oh well, it was just 20 bucks. By the way, their debugger is excellent too--except that it doesn't understand arrays of function pointers and refuses to run when it finds them. Buy both if you want to get out cheaply and learn some C. For a realistic production environment, maybe not. Hope this helps. =============================================== Mark W. Schumann catfood@ncoast.org uunet!usenet.ins.cwru.edu!ncoast!catfood =============================================== > -- ============================================================ Mark W. Schumann Domain: catfood@ncoast.org UseNet: ...cwjcc!ncoast!catfood ============================================================
mayne@VSSERV.SCRI.FSU.EDU (William (Bill) Mayne) (08/03/90)
>In article <24164@boulder.Colorado.EDU> mdperry@beagle (Marc D. Perry) writes: > >>I recently received a package of postcards from BYTE magazine; each >>card contains advertising info on a specific product and one of these >>sounds too good to be true. For 19.95 MIX software will send you the >>Power C compliler with features like: make, linker, libraries (10 >>bucks more), 600 page manual, ANSI std., IEEE floating point, >>automatic register variables, supports all graphics. They also show a > > [lots deleted here] > >>Marc D. Perry (303) 492 8258 For learning a little C and finding out if you like it MIX C is fine. However, considering its limitations which another respondant has detailed I would recommend you spend not too much more for Turbo C if you can afford it. I see you are at an .EDU site, so you can probably get Turbo C for $49.95 under the educational discount plan. Turbo C++ would be $69.95. At least those are the prices at FSU. For that you get a really solid and main stream compiler, three or four volumes of okay documentation. And an excellent editting and debugging environment. You question whether you need the integrated development environment, saying that you are not a developer. Actually the IDE is (IMHO, I don't know what insiders at Borland think) aimed more at the student and hobby market than developers. Developers can and do spend more bucks for LANs, better editors, source code control systems, hardware assisted debuggers, etc. A decent and not too expensive programming environment is important if you are programming for education and/or pleasure. By the way, even if you aren't interested in C++ right now you might want to spend the extra $20 to get it over Turbo C. The C subset of Turbo C is just like their C. It compiles only a little slower (not enough to be problem) and may not produce quite as good object code. But since you aren't a developer that won't matter much. The editor is better, allowing you to edit many files at once. It would be worth the difference to me for that feature alone. And if you do want to dabble in C++ you could.