Mitch.Bradley@ENG.SUN.COM (05/14/91)
> With the idea of professional packages in mind, do you consider Turbo C > a professional quality tool? (assume the Pro package if you want.) > I payed 150.00 for this. Why are professional 10X or more this price? > Are there packages available in the 100-500 dollar range? I assume the question is "why do some professional Forth systems cost in the $1000 range, while you can buy Turbo C for about $100 and the professional version of same for about $350". One answer is the size of the market for Forth systems is a tiny fraction of the size of the market for C compilers. C has a 100:1, or maybe a 1000:1 edge, so Borland can amortize its development costs over many many more units than can, say, MPE or FORTH Inc. MPE has found that there are enough business customers willing to pay their prices to keep them in business. Also, keep in mind that Turbo C generates code to run on a PC, the highest volume standard platform in existence. Many of the "kilobuck" professional Forth developem systems target embedded systems platforms, for which decent C cross-compilers cost kilobucks too. Mitch.Bradley@Eng.Sun.COM