greg@cstowe.UUCP (super) (01/11/88)
Hi, youse out there in netland. I have an ST (520 + an extra 1/2 meg). I am looking for a C compiler to start exploiting the power of the box, but I can only find a few review of the compilers I can find ads for. What I want to know is - How good is the documentation ? How good is the Debugger ? What other products (C++, microemacs, etc) will run with it ? What other hardware does it support (68020, 68881, Stereotech Glasses, etc) ? How fast is it ? What is the editor / environment ? How good is the Gem interface ? How robust is it ? How close to the K&R standard is it ? Has it got unix compatible library calls ? (System 5.2 - I work on a Tower 600) What is the price and where do I get my paws on it ? The compilers I have heard about via advertising, but little else, are Mark Williams C, Megamax C, Manx Aztec C, Alcyon, Lattice C, Hippo C (??). Please send your replies to me or the net (their are probably a number of users who would like this info). I will try to summarize the answers I get (this is my first posting !) and resend out. My address probably is ...!uunet!munnari!vuwcomp!dsiramd!pnamd!cstowe!greg which is out in the antipodes (NZ). Thanks in advance, Greg Disclaimer - my bosses can't even work the net, let alone figure out what I put on it ! Take these stunned men to the Meditechs ! Sorry if you recieve this more than once - problems with sending as this is our first posting ever
greg@cstowe.csoft.co.nz (Greg) (01/23/88)
C Compilers for the Atari ST - Summary of replies Well, this sure was easy. I got 4 replies, the voting as follows Mark Williams C - 4 votes Megamax C - 1/2 a vote The rest (Alcyon, Lattice mentioned specfically) 0 votes. Sorry to anyone who sent mail which got returned. We have problems involving a couple of problems with mail addressing from the NZ news feeder. Currently we are working on it, and eventually my address may be what is in my From: field (so sayeth the Guru across the desk from me :-) (-: Unix Guru, not mail Guru :-) Much thanks to those who replied and to those who tried. The replies that got here were from btb@ncoast.uucp (Brad Banko) abi@dutinfd.uucp (Ton Biegstraaten) preston@felix.uucp (Preston Bannister) Mike Berkley <mberkley%watnext@watmath.uucp> I'm glad I sent this out - so far, I have heard nothing in ANY mag about MWC (Mark Williams C), except adverts of course, so would have been loath to buy otherwise. However, I have been sold ... Answers to the questions - > How good is the documentation ? All replies said that the documentation was excellent, to the point that Mike Berkley said "Some people recommend buying MWC instead of abacus books or the developer's doc." > How good is the Debugger ? The debugger appears to be an adb clone. No sdb (Symbolic Debugger), but there is mention of one in vapourware(:-)). Hopefully there will be one soon ? > How fast is it ? No real comparisons returned, except to Megamax, which lets you put the compiler on Ramdisk, so it runs faster. (Does this imply MWC will not run off Ramdisk Mike? It does come with a Ramdisk utility.) > What is the editor / environment ? It comes with microemacs, make and "unix-like shell with pipes and redirection (but no multitasking)". > How good is the GEM interface ? Complete library support for GEM > How robust is it ? Very robust. No noted complaints with MWC itself. > How close to the K&R standard is it ? It seems to cause very few problems in porting from a Unix environment, and "complies completely with K&R, and has many of the ANSI extensions" > What other products (C++, microemacs, etc) will run on it ? > What other hardware does it support (68020, 68881, Stereotech Glasses, etc) ? OK, I admit it - this is the optimistic section - I WANT an 68020 and a 68881 in my box. And a Multitasking Windowing tool that I can access from my software for my applications, but multitasking comes after the MMU providing memory protection - I believe one of the custom chips supports some MMU functions, but no-one seems to have multitasking of the ground that I have seen. The Tower 1632 with a 68000 runs Unix System V.2 - why doesn't my ST. Actually, I can guess. The 1632 is a business box with an MMU without any graphics overhead. Still, it is old technology. Enough spiel - Compiled and working with MWC are the Gulam shell (?) and MicroEmacs 3.9. What the Users want section. Brad Banko (btb@ncoast.uucp) wants a "simple graphics library" so he can "write simple graphics applications without having to endure the overhead of using GEM". Ton Biegstraaten mentioned the lack of RCS -> Revision Control System (me thinks that's what the acronym is for). Preston Bannister mentioned the lack of sdb. Given I can't have The One True OS, all of the above make sense to me ! Thanks again for your replies greg ...!uunet!vuwcomp!dsiramd!pnamd!cstowe!greg or greg@csoft.co.nz (hopefully! :-) Commercial Software N.Z. Ltd., PO Box 4030 Palmerston North, New Zealand Phone (063)-65 955 Disclaimer - I think, therefore this has nothing to do with my employers. The white zone is for loading and unloading. Come to the white zone. You'll love it - it's a way of life ! ZAPPA.