[comp.unix.aux] A/UX cc compiler

J.Pearce@cs.ucl.ac.uk (11/14/90)

Can anyone make any comments on the status/limitations/bugs of the
default cc compiler that comes with A/UX.

And just out of interest is a "plain" int represented as 2 or 4
bytes ?

John Pearce

jpearce@uk.ac.ucl.cs

Computer Science Department
University College London
Gower Street
London
WC1E 6BT
UK

coolidge@cs.uiuc.edu (John Coolidge) (11/15/90)

J.Pearce@cs.ucl.ac.uk writes:
>Can anyone make any comments on the status/limitations/bugs of the
>default cc compiler that comes with A/UX.

The default cc is an OK compiler, but nothing special. Its biggest
deficiency is that it has fixed-size tables for most everything
(something it shares with the standard cpp, as, and ld, although
with ld you seldom if every notice it). This means that large
systems (gcc, X11, etc) fail with the default cc.

I've never seen cc put out bad code (some claim they have, but I
haven't); on the other hand, I've never seen it put it very good
code either. Its optimizer is pretty poor, at least compared to
Gnu cc (gcc)'s. But, aside from blowing up repeatedly when its
tables overflow, I've never seen it actually spit out bad code.

That said, I much prefer gcc. It produces tighter, faster, smaller,
and just plain better code. In general it has better error messages
and it doesn't suffer from the fixed size tables problems. But
A/UX's cc is fine for most tasks.

>And just out of interest is a "plain" int represented as 2 or 4
>bytes ?

4 bytes.

--John

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
John L. Coolidge     Internet:coolidge@cs.uiuc.edu   UUCP:uiucdcs!coolidge
Of course I don't speak for the U of I (or anyone else except myself)
Copyright 1990 John L. Coolidge. Copying allowed if (and only if) attributed.
You may redistribute this article if and only if your recipients may as well.

jim@jagubox.gsfc.nasa.gov (Jim Jagielski) (11/15/90)

In article <1990Nov15.031150.3997@julius.cs.uiuc.edu> coolidge@cs.uiuc.edu writes:
>J.Pearce@cs.ucl.ac.uk writes:
>>Can anyone make any comments on the status/limitations/bugs of the
>>default cc compiler that comes with A/UX.
>
>The default cc is an OK compiler, but nothing special. Its biggest
>deficiency is that it has fixed-size tables for most everything
>(something it shares with the standard cpp, as, and ld, although
>with ld you seldom if every notice it). This means that large
>systems (gcc, X11, etc) fail with the default cc.
>


Of course, 2.0 doesn't have this problem... it has a flag (-A #) which says
to increase the symbol table size by a factor of #. (as, ld and f77 also
have this)

Now pre-2.0 did have fixed sized tables... and they were kinda meager too.
--
=======================================================================
#include <std/disclaimer.h>
                                 =:^)
           Jim Jagielski                    NASA/GSFC, Code 711.1
     jim@jagubox.gsfc.nasa.gov               Greenbelt, MD 20771

"Kilimanjaro is a pretty tricky climb. Most of it's up, until you reach
 the very, very top, and then it tends to slope away rather sharply."

coolidge@cs.uiuc.edu (John Coolidge) (11/16/90)

jim@jagubox.gsfc.nasa.gov (Jim Jagielski) writes:
>>The default cc is an OK compiler, but nothing special. Its biggest
>>deficiency is that it has fixed-size tables for most everything
>>(something it shares with the standard cpp, as, and ld, although
>>with ld you seldom if every notice it). This means that large
>>systems (gcc, X11, etc) fail with the default cc.

>Of course, 2.0 doesn't have this problem... it has a flag (-A #) which says
>to increase the symbol table size by a factor of #. (as, ld and f77 also
>have this)

>Now pre-2.0 did have fixed sized tables... and they were kinda meager too.

This is true; however, increasing table size causes things to SLOOOOW
down (especially with ld --- yack!). as and cc don't slow down all
that much, and if you need bigger tables, you need bigger tables :-).

As I said, cc is a pretty good compiler. Not great, but not bad either.

--John

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
John L. Coolidge     Internet:coolidge@cs.uiuc.edu   UUCP:uiucdcs!coolidge
Of course I don't speak for the U of I (or anyone else except myself)
Copyright 1990 John L. Coolidge. Copying allowed if (and only if) attributed.
You may redistribute this article if and only if your recipients may as well.