[comp.lang.fortran] Mini-Review of Green Hills f77 on A/UX

clt@pur-phy (Carrick Talmadge) (06/14/88)

For those who are interested in fortran on the Mac II under A/UX:  We
received our copy of the Green Hills f77 compiler last week (having had
some difficulty applying the A/UX distribution f77 for our purposes
8=).  This software is distributed by UniSoft under the somewhat funky
name "Optimizing Fortran" (make sure to ask your vendor for the full name).

We've found exactly one bug so far, which was extremely minor and
easily worked around.  Other than that the thing compiles *fast* (it
appears to compile directly from source code to object code), and
produces *very* tight code.  For example, intrinsic floating point
functions are substituted whenever possible with direct floating point
coprocessor traps.  Other [possible] optimizations include stack frame
adjustment coalescing, register replacement of local variables by
coloring, loop invariant analysis, etc.  The manual is highly detailed,
well written, and to the point.

I'd rate the software 9.5 out of 10.0 (-0.5 for no index with the manual).

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Carrick Talmadge               | DISCLAIMER:  C.T. has no association with
clt@newton.physics.purdue.edu  | either Green Hills or Unisoft.  Opinions
..!pur-ee!pur-phy!clt          | expressed herein are his own, and do not
Purdue Univ. Physics Dept.     | necessarily reflect those of his employer
West Lafayette, IN  47907      | (Purdue University).