Message-ID: <107@wuibc.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 26-Nov-84 18:47:14 EST
Article-I.D.: wuibc.107
Posted: Mon Nov 26 18:47:14 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 27-Nov-84 04:43:12 EST
Distribution: net
Organization: Washington U. in St. Louis, Institute for Biomedical Computing
Lines: 26

[]

I'm thinking of purchasing a Fat Mac w/2 drives to use as a software
development system, and I'd like to get some feedback on the feasibility
of such use.  In particular:

1. Is the Mac Assembler/Debugger a viable software development tool
   for machine language programming?  Has Apple produced a reasonably
   bug-free version, able to handle large source files, with linking
   capability, and so forth?

2. Are there any worthwhile implementations of C available for the Mac?
   (E.g. how do they shape up as regards portability, size limitations
    on source code, Kernighan&Ritchie adherence, etc.)
   I've heard of a Unix C, from Holt/Stanford, which requires a Vax
   to utilize; has anyone had any experience with it?  Are any C
   compilers compatible with the Mac Assembler?

I realize some of these questions may be naive, and some may have
already been answered on the net; please bear with me.
I'd appreciate any information, rumors, pointers in the right direction;
please respond by mail to
	...!ihnp4!wucs!wuibc!etm

Thanks in advance,
Ed Macke

Message-ID:: <22200001@iuvax.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 27-Nov-84 22:24:00 EST
Article-I.D.: iuvax.22200001
Posted: Tue Nov 27 22:24:00 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 29-Nov-84 06:22:40 EST
References: <107@wuibc.UUCP>
Lines: 4
Nf-ID: #R:wuibc:-10700:iuvax:22200001:000:53
Nf-From: iuvax!wagle    Nov 27 22:24:00 1984


[what is a line eater?]

  Please respond here also.

Message-ID:: <31400009@smu.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 28-Nov-84 17:23:00 EST
Article-I.D.: smu.31400009
Posted: Wed Nov 28 17:23:00 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 30-Nov-84 05:39:37 EST
References: <107@wuibc.UUCP>
Lines: 56
Nf-ID: #R:wuibc:-10700:smu:31400009:000:2561
Nf-From: smu!bunnell    Nov 28 16:23:00 1984

/* ---------- "request for information" ---------- */
[]

 >> I'm thinking of purchasing a Fat Mac w/2 drives to use as a software
 >> development system, and I'd like to get some feedback on the feasibility
 >> of such use.  In particular:
 >> 
 >> 1. Is the Mac Assembler/Debugger a viable software development tool
 >>    for machine language programming?  Has Apple produced a reasonably
 >>    bug-free version, able to handle large source files, with linking
 >>    capability, and so forth?
 >> 
 >> 2. Are there any worthwhile implementations of C available for the Mac?
 >>    (E.g. how do they shape up as regards portability, size limitations
 >>     on source code, Kernighan&Ritchie adherence, etc.)
 >>    I've heard of a Unix C, from Holt/Stanford, which requires a Vax
 >>    to utilize; has anyone had any experience with it?  Are any C
 >>    compilers compatible with the Mac Assembler?
 >> 
	
     At Comdex I saw all the C compilers for the Mac and talked to a reviewer
     doing a review. These are the benchmarks that he had for the sieve program
     that was in BYTE last year.

     
                    execution speed     file size      compilation/link etc.
 
     Megamax        6.2 (4.17 reg vars)   5k              105

     Softworks         7.0               25k              300+

     Consulair        10.0               12k              125

     Hippo            60+                 ?               N/A


     He had not recieved the Manx compiler yet, but I talked to them and
     they do not have the capability yet to create a Macintosh type executable
     file (you must use their shell). The Megamax and the Softworks are the
     other two K&R compatible versions. The Consulair does not yet have 
     floating point. 

     The Megamax C compiler has in-line assembler and the compiler produces
     object code directly. Thus, there is no need for the 68000 developement
     system. The people at Megamax said that Apples object file format is still
     under discussion and they will convert to it when it is decided upon.
     The Megamax C compiler allows dynamic overlays and so I doubt that there
     is any problem with compiling very big programs. Also it is the only
     compiler out yet that has a librarian and the ability of the linker
     to link in just the routines that are called (this explains the small
     code size). 

     I don't know their address but Megamax's phone number is (214) 987-4931    

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