Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!husc6!harvard!spdcc!dyer From: dyer@spdcc.UUCP (Steve Dyer) Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions Subject: Re: Primix Message-ID: <494@spdcc.UUCP> Date: Wed, 14-Jan-87 00:53:35 EST Article-I.D.: spdcc.494 Posted: Wed Jan 14 00:53:35 1987 Date-Received: Wed, 14-Jan-87 06:01:19 EST References: <2296@brl-adm.ARPA> Reply-To: dyer@spdcc.UUCP (Steve Dyer) Organization: S.P. Dyer Computer Consulting, Cambridge MA Lines: 18 Yes, I just spent 6 months of my life porting MAGIC, Berkeley's VLSI design tool, from a VAX running 4.2BSD to a 9955 running PRIMIX. It builds character! Actually, it was a fascinating exercise in portability, and as for PRIMIX, Prime's System V port running on top of PRIMOS, well, it's like Johnson's dog walking on its hind legs: it's amazing that it works at all! Still, all the problems I came across in PRIMIX seemed fairly tractable; nothing that an infusion of documentation and people and money couldn't cure (OK, a different machine architecture would be nice, too... :-)). PRIME's C compiler, a package developed separately from PRIMIX, doesn't generate the fastest code right now, but it seems pretty bullet-proof; we ran into remarkably few bugs in the compiler and libraries. Their PRIMOS debugger (which can be used for PRIMIX programs, with some restrictions) is superb; it puts attempts like "dbx" to shame. -- Steve Dyer dyer@harvard.HARVARD.EDU {linus,wanginst,bbnccv,harvard,ima,ihnp4}!spdcc!dyer