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From: len@qumix.UUCP (Leonard Labar)
Newsgroups: net.micro.apple
Subject: Macprogramming.
Message-ID: <131@qumix.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 6-Oct-84 22:19:35 EDT
Article-I.D.: qumix.131
Posted: Sat Oct  6 22:19:35 1984
Date-Received: Sun, 7-Oct-84 21:56:42 EDT
Distribution: net
Organization: Qume Corp., San Jose, CA
Lines: 44


Does anyone have any insights on what's the best program language
software available or soon to be available for the Mac.  What I've
heard about so far is:

1. Modula II -a superset of pascal.  I've heard the least expensive
versions aren't that good.

2. Forth - 3 levels with rapidly escalated prices as you progress.  A
fast executing language, the dictionary is neat, the way the stack
handles arithmentic is not so neat.

3. C -I hear it has bugs in the released version.  For around $2k
(gasp!) you can buy a cross-assembler version to run on your mainframe.
Q.- Since we have Unix 4.2 and a C compilor at work anyway, why isn't
there a cheaper, better way to go on this?  It seems like a terminal
emulator program with download and some primitive vax to Mac toolkit
algorithums would be all you'd need.  I guess they wouldn't make enough
money that way.

4. Fortran 77 - This also runs on our vax but I see no vax support on
that advertisement.

5. Pascal - Nice, clean structured language but less I/O capabilities
than Modula II.  Probably slower execution speed that Forth.

6. Mbasic - Now there's a language everybody understands.
Unfortanately, it's slow and I unless you get something like waterloo
basic, you get tired of using go to's and yearn for something more
structured after awhile.  Cbasic is fast but I don't think they have
that for the Mac yet.

7. Let's see, what have I missed.  I haven't seen 68000 assembly
language available for the single 128k Mac yet.  The only answer I got
as to why was that nobody wants to write programs that are limited to
64k.  My answer was "well, why don't you let us at least TRY."  If that
was the only reason, we should see it come out for the 512k version
eventually.

8.  What decides which is the "best" programmming language for the Mac?
My thoughts- price, availability, no bugs, transportability, ease to
learn it, execution speed, development time, ease of understanding to
other programmers, program structure, I/O capability, and documentation
either built into the SW or in the manuals.