Seiler%mit-xx@sri-unix.UUCP (07/26/83)
From: Larry Seiler <Seiler@mit-xx>
Someone said in this forum that JRT Pascal was a toy, not suited for
real work. Well, I have read many negative reviews of the JRT compiler,
including the comment that the compiler "is so fragile that it falls
apart at a touch". But the same review goes on to say that an experienced
software writer shouldn't have much trouble avoiding the situations that
cause the compiler to give incomprehensible error messages, and (with a
little experience with JRT) shouldn't have serious trouble figuring out
what's wrong.
One thing I have never heard any comments about is the quality of the
code that the JRT Pascal compiler produces. If the compiler dies horribly
in the presence of program errors, well, for $30 I'm willing to put up with
that, especially if it at least gives me a line number before dying. That's
more than many compilers I have worked with will do for me. But if the code
produced by the compiler is buggy, then I don't want it at any price.
Presumably, if the JRT compiler produced buggy code, we would have heard
about it by now (we've heard enough about the compiler bugs). I just
remembered - there was a code bug (JRT also provided a simple patch to fix
the problem). Anyway if the compiler produces reliable code, then I think
it is useable, and not just a toy.
Larry
PS - Since they allow the program to be copied, does anyone make it
available on their dialup system?
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