Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!rochester!cornell!batcomputer!braner From: braner@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu (braner) Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st Subject: Re: ACTION, C compilers, and ROM cartridges Message-ID: <1881@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu> Date: Fri, 19-Dec-86 00:28:48 EST Article-I.D.: batcompu.1881 Posted: Fri Dec 19 00:28:48 1986 Date-Received: Fri, 19-Dec-86 07:06:06 EST Reply-To: braner@batcomputer.UUCP (braner) Organization: Theory Center, Cornell University, Ithaca NY Lines: 24 Summary: Obsolete in this age of cheap, plentiful RAM [Question: what's "akward" about C syntax?] In response to postings about C compilers and about ACTION: Programs in ROM are not any faster than programs in RAM. They just don't need to be loaded from disk. In the case of a program you use repeatedly in one session (e.g. editor, compiler, linker) you only need to load it ONCE, into RAMDISK. There is a very limited number of ROMs you can plug into your ST at once, but it is easy to boot various disks. Therefore it is my view that in most cases those cartridges are obsolete. Their current use is for a sceme of copy- protection (ugh: "we trust you SO LITTLE that we won't even SELL you a disk"), and also for turnkey diskless systems (e.g. an ST set up as a dumb terminal). About 10 months ago Aztec told me they did not plan (then) a port of their compiler to the ST. So they've had a late start. Too bad, since their's may be the best of the ones on the Mac. If you want a FAST C compiler, try Megamax on a RAM disk - it isn't much slower than Lightspeed C, and is available NOW on the ST. Now if they had only used the FP package that's used in Absoft FORTRAN... - Moshe Braner