Michael@sri-unix (07/14/82)
I'm sure you will die when I suggest this, but here goes. If you need a compiler for your Apple because you need the performance, I suggest that you get a compiler for Applesoft BASIC. As far as I'm concerned, the best one is TASC, from Microsoft. It generates excellent, compact code, provides some nice extensions to the language (like true integer arithmetic), and is almost completely compatible with the interpreter. Programs can be developed and debugged under the interpreter and then compiled for performance. Most large Applesoft programs tend to run 4-6 times as fast. Programs taking advantage of integer arithmetic run even faster. The combination makes effective use of the advantages of both interpretation and compilation. That tends to make up for some of the inadequacies of the language. C and Pascal are certainly more effective programming languages than BASIC. However, because of the architecture of the 6502, I doubt that you will be able to get much better performance out of a C compiler than you will from TASC. Michael T. Howard MTHoward at PARC-MAXC