ejkst@cisunx.UUCP (Eric J. Kennedy) (04/25/89)
I recieved a flyer from M2S telling me that I had until May 1 to take advantage of their special offer (since I'm a TDI owner, I guess). Has anybody used this product? I was favorably impressed with the demo, but what was that somebody said about any technology being faked by a sufficiently rigged demo? You get the idea. The flyer lists some features, like an integrated text editor, single pass compiler, symbolic debugger (I want a source debugger!), ARexx ports and ARexx command mode in the compiler and linker, ARexx library, ARP library, C I/O library, "easy" library of Amiga resources like windows, menus, and gadgets, and source for the above libraries. It sounds like a very nice system. Now, can anybody confirm or deny this? I can still make the deadline, but I *really* don't care to throw more money into another piece of junk like TDI. In the interest of time (I only have a couple days) email would be appreciated. If I get any interesting responses, I'll summarize to the net. Thanks, -- Eric Kennedy ejkst@cisunx.UUCP
hcmutt@hpcllld.HP.COM (Harry Muttart) (04/27/89)
I have not used M2S, but have $.02 to offer, anyway, regarding > features, like an integrated text editor, single pass compiler, symbolic > debugger (I want a source debugger!), ARexx ports and ARexx command mode > in the compiler and linker, ARexx library, ARP library, C I/O library, > "easy" library of Amiga resources like windows, menus, and gadgets, and > source for the above libraries. It sounds like a very nice system. My biases... I am a TDI owner (through 2? 3? upgrades) and am suitably underwhelmed... I am also desperate for a "decent development environment" which includes a source level debugger (imho)... The identifier completion feature seems very attractive after typing lotsa LongModuleName.LongStructureName.DescriptiveName ... I do not care for "C"... My interpretation of the above offer which I received... SOURCE LEVEL DEBUGGER...WOW! (pant, pant)... WAIT A DURN MINIT!!! POSTMORTEM!!!? (If you have used the earlier TDI postmortem debugger, you might not expect a lot either). The editor appears to be yet another different editor to live with... not even based upon a commonly used PD Amiga editor (but could be wrong)... I am not sure that I trust TDI to actually support me if I am silly enough to send them my money again...they were not responsive... Final word... The elimination of ROM Kernal interface code (in most cases) is very attractive...I would also like to hear more...while I continue to use Benchmark... Anyone heard if Avant Garde is planning on shipping a source level debugger any time soon? Harry Muttart
hcmutt@hpcllld.HP.COM (Harry Muttart) (04/28/89)
I want to share a response to the note that I posted... Sounds like real users are extremely happy the this product. Hope that this reachs prospective customers soon enough. Harry Muttart -------------------------- copied from EMAIL --------------------------------- In article <6790019@hpcllld.HP.COM> you write: > SOURCE LEVEL DEBUGGER...WOW! (pant, pant)... WAIT A DURN MINIT!!! > POSTMORTEM!!!? (If you have used the earlier TDI postmortem debugger, you > might not expect a lot either). > > The editor appears to be yet another different editor to live with... not > even based upon a commonly used PD Amiga editor (but could be wrong)... > > I am not sure that I trust TDI to actually support me if I am silly enough > to send them my money again...they were not responsive... > Well, yes, it isn't a single-step debugger but it is a source-level debugger in that it displays data according to the symbol information, the procedure chain along with source code, etc. Sorry, one of my pet peaves since people say source-level debugger when they mean single-step, source-level debugger. Anyway, There is a major difference between the TDI product and the M2S product in that the M2S system actually works! The editor is non-standard (which is a strike in my opinion since I use EMACS and/or VI 6-8 hours a day) but is extremely nice. I am quickly spoiled by features such as the auto case correction, quick scrolling/selecting, and hot keys (hum, time to look at a file - I could start MORE or type Ctrl-Alt-Y then the filename). However, this is based on opinion - I'll use any editor that provides the power and speed that I need. As an example of the solid nature of the product I'll mention how I use the post-mortem debugger. A requester asking whether or not I want to load the debugger pops up when there is an error or the program executes the command HALT. If you want to abort the program instead of loading the debugger it will execute all Termination code (ala M2Amiga or the Amazing Computing article a while back) to return resources to the system. After using the post-mortem debugger when it was started by the HALT command a requester pops up asking whether you want to continue. I use this to do snapshot debugging of buggy code. I've continued execution after starting the debugger atleast 15-20 times. Anyway, you also talked about support. M2S has been released a month and there has also been a release of improved library modules (some bug fixes, an improved debugger (mainly displaying data better), and some new library routines). A new release should be sent (which is free I believe) in late May which includes atleast a 10-20% faster compiler. The source-level debugger, AmigaDOS compatable object, and optimizing linker are being worked on, with a target date of 6 months. I intended this to provide my views on the system as well as some information as to the future directions of M2Sprint, and did not intend this to be hard-sale. The reason that I said so much about it is that the special intro offer expires soon (I don't remember when) and I wanted you to hear the flip side before it expired. If you have any questions about the system I'll answer them honestly (my being Beta tester only means that I get to make sure that my machine will run the next version, and that I get to complain to authors). Have a good morning, - David -- David King - FROM Disclaimers IMPORT Standard; Georgia Insitute of Technology, Atlanta Georgia, 30332 uucp: ...!{akgua,allegra,amd,hplabs,ihnp4,seismo,ut-ngp}!gatech!gitpyr!dsking ARPA: dsking@pyr.gatech.edu