markus@etn-rad.UUCP (Markus Richardson) (04/27/88)
Anyone familiar with the dBase compiler make by dBFast? I have ordered it from Programmers Connection (800-336-1166) for a mere $59. I did a little checking myself by calling dBFast directly (800-356-6356) to verify that they are for real. dBFast charges $69 and they acknowledged a critical indexing bug exists in their initial release 1.0; they are now shipping 1.0G instead. I wanted to insure that they are providing Programmers Connection with the latest version and they "assured me" they are. Please tell me what your experiences with dBFast have been if any. Is it as quick as they say (e.g., 3 times Clipper, 2 times Foxbase+, etc.)? I understand no runtime support is needed as it compiles and links in one operation to a single EXE file. Gosh, with a 30-day money-back guarantee from Programmers Connection and a 60-day money-back guarantee from dBFast, how can I go wrong? Please e-mail replies and I will summarize to the net if enough interest is generated. P.S. Anyone got first-hand (or second-hand) benchmarks of the dBase IV compiler? -- Markus N. Richardson Research and Development Eaton Corporation IMSD 31717 La Tienda Drive Westlake Village, CA 91359 { voder,ihnp4,trwrb,scgvaxd,jplgodo }!wlbr!etn-rad!markus wlbr!etn-rad!markus@etn-wlv.eaton.com
wew@naucse.UUCP (Bill Wilson) (04/28/88)
I own a copy of DBFAST and so far am impressed. The only problem I have encountered is a bug in the compiler that produces load modules that hang the system for certain source programs. If you get 1.0G the bug is supposed to be fixed. It compiles fast, makes small EXE files and runs quick. The screen I/O is much quicker than dBASE. The only drawback is that the standard libraries are memory resident, although they include a program to clear the resident portion from memory. The resident program and clear program have an unlimited distribution license so that your clients do not need to buy a thing but your program. Generally I like the product and am awaiting the new version before doing any more testing. Bill Wilson
wew@naucse.UUCP (Bill Wilson) (05/04/88)
The new version of dBFast works wonderfully. I have compiled a number of programs and they work well and faster. The only problem that I have found is that you cannot have a hyphen (-) or an apostrphe (') in a file name that is called with the do statement.