burleigh@cica.cica.indiana.edu (Frank Burleigh) (04/14/90)
The release of MS C 6.0 has obviously generated some excitement
among MSC users. Some additional information would be useful for
those of us using TC2.0. These questions are not intended to
start a row, only to solicit objective facts and the range of
opinion on non-objective points.
1. Please describe the Workbench in relation to TC's Integrated
Development Environment, primarily in terms of usability.
Specifically:
- can one edit several files simultaneously
- TC's editor drives me crazy, from Borland's insistence on
the little blinking cursor to its odd unwillingness to go
down a line when I press right-arrow at the end of a line.
- how does access to CV differ from the IDE's own debugger: is
it a pain to get to CV: is CV less-well integrated into the
environment than the IDE debugger?
- how does access to information on language elements and the
library compare? the quality of the information available
on-line?
- what else?
2. Support for assembly language and low-level access. the asm
keyword does not work unless you use TCC, but the register
pseudo-variables are very useful. Will MSC do the same or
better?
3. Code. I've repeatedly heard and read negative comments about
the code TC generates, either absolutely or in comparison to
other compilers. These evaluations come in forms all the way
from "TC's code is a toy" to "I like to program in TC's envi-
ronment but would never use it for production code." Can these
claims be quantified? What happens when standard benchmarks
like dhrystones are appropriately compiled? Whose code runs
faster? Whose code is smaller?
4. Compilation speed. Has MSC improved substantially? If compi-
lation is still "slow," how is that fact mediated by so-called
"incremental compilation?" What *is* incremental compilation
(I can guess, but would rather hear it from people who are more
likely to know than I am).
5. Library. Is one library "better" than the other? Does MSC
include functions for graphics? How much trouble might there
be converting non-standard (i.e. stuff to support DOS and the
PC) from TC to MSC?
6. Is Codeview now in the same league as TD?
7. Even if one could say with some confidence that MSC is "better"
than TC, is TC3.0 likely to merely leapfrog this version of MSC
(especially if one isn't worried about the C++ that's supposed
to be part of TC3)?
8. What other questions should be asked in comparing the two com-
pilers and environments?
Probably a number of people are interested in this general topic,
so posts of *actual comparative experiences* seem appropriate. E-
mail also eagerly awaited!
Thanks.
--
Frank Burleigh burleigh@cica.cica.indiana.edu
USENET: ...rutgers!iuvax!cica!burleigh BITNET: BURLEIGH@IUBACS.BITNET
Department of Sociology, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 47405