Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/3/84; site delftcc.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!whuxlm!harpo!decvax!linus!philabs!rdin!delftcc!sam From: sam@delftcc.UUCP (Sam Kendall) Newsgroups: net.lang.c,net.micro.pc Subject: Re: Re: C Interpreters - Any Experiences??? (Smart/C, Bcc) Message-ID: <131@delftcc.UUCP> Date: Mon, 1-Jul-85 15:48:20 EDT Article-I.D.: delftcc.131 Posted: Mon Jul 1 15:48:20 1985 Date-Received: Fri, 5-Jul-85 05:45:29 EDT References: <1127@hou5e.UUCP> <668@whuxl.UUCP> Organization: Delft Consulting Corp., New York Lines: 41 Xref: watmath net.lang.c:5460 net.micro.pc:4453 > A C interpreter does exist that runs on UNIX* SV_R2 and Berkeley 4.2, together > with Xenix. For VAX, 3B2/300, 68000 and as well as proprietary architectures. > It will also run on the PC under MD-DOS. > > The interpreter is called SMART/C. What follows is from the data I have > about SMARTC/C: ... And what follows is the entire text of a Smart/C brochure. This strikes me as a bit too commercial, even for what is ostensibly a third party replying to a request for information. I would like to relate my experience with Smart/C. (I am the project head for a competing product, The Bcc Compiler -- a checkout compiler, not an interpreter.) I saw a demo of Smart/C at the April UNIX Systems Expo in San Franciso, and it was, in brief, a very slick toy. The syntax-directed editor either didn't handle preprocessor macros at all, or didn't handle macros such as ``#define forever for(;;)'' that do not expand to subexpressions. (The salesman had been given a line to handle complaints about this: he said, "you know, the preprocessor isn't part of the language." Wrong.) Printf and scanf were not handled. Libraries other than stdio were not handled. A test program which accessed storage beyond the end of an array crashed the interpreter. In the product's favor, it has an impressive user interface. But in the state I saw it, it won't run the average 10-line C program. Before it can be a real product, it will have to run the average 10,000-line C program. And that is quite a gap. *Most* of our product's development cycle was spent between these two stages. (And, yes, our product is ready and available now.) I am interested to hear, by mail or news, from anyone who has used a C interpreter under UNIX that runs a program of reasonable size and complexity. ------ Sam Kendall UUCP: {allegra,cmcl2,ihnp4}!delftcc!sam Delft Consulting Corp. ARPA: delftcc!sam@NYU-CMCL2.ARPA Phone: (212) 243-8700 USMail: 432 Park Av S, New York, NY 10016 UNIX is a trademark of AT&T Bell Laboratories. Smart/C is a trademark of AGS Computers, Inc. Bcc is a trademark of Delft Consulting Corp.