Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!iuvax!pur-ee!a.cs.uiuc.edu!uxc.cso.uiuc.edu!uxe.cso.uiuc.edu!mcdonald
From: mcdonald@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu
Newsgroups: comp.windows.misc
Subject: Re: Compiling under Windows
Message-ID: <68600011@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu>
Date: 4 Jul 88 14:23:00 GMT
References: <152@pt1.Wichita.NCR.COM>
Lines: 40
Nf-ID: #R:pt1.Wichita.NCR.COM:152:uxe.cso.uiuc.edu:68600011:000:2204
Nf-From: uxe.cso.uiuc.edu!mcdonald    Jul  4 09:23:00 1988


>[ description of how hard it is to compile stuff under Windows ]

>I don't understand this. I'm running Intuition, which does everything that
>Windows does. I can compile and bind in 512K, using the Manx compiler, on
>a 68000. The 68000 is *not* as powerful as the 80386, even in 80286 mode.

>Does DOS compatibility really cost that much? And if so, is it worth it?

I think you misunderstand. It is perfectly possible to run just about
anything "under" windows. It will get out of the way and let you do 
what you wish, if you tell it to. But then you are back to a basic
DOS command prompt. If you do run compilers in a window, it still takes
up its own space, as it must to do real windows programs at the same time.
And that space is maybe 200 kbyte. In addition, the Windows 386 user
interface for DOS programs sucks. It requires dozens of keystrokes and
button clicks to make it do what the user wants. One is always having
to get into the "settings" menu and play with them. Remember that Windows
is basically a second operating system. Real Windows programs are not in the
least like DOS programs, or any other programs for that matter. As as
operating system, Windows supports NO, that's right, NO standard languages.
Not C, not Pascal, not Fortran, not Ada, not anything. That's because
it doesn't support normal IO. The classic "Hello World" C program
won't do anything. It is like the classic circus dancing elephant:
it's a miracle that it works at all.

The real question is not whether DOS compatibility costs too much. It
is whether Windows costs too much. To that, the answer is probably YES.

Comparing Windows to Intuition is not fair. Intuition is, correct me
if I'm wrong, the original O.S. for the Amiga, and came with it 
from the start. Thus all programs naturally work with it - and, again
correct me if I'm wrong, if it is multitasking,  presumably the thing
was designed to do multiprogram windows from the start. Remember
that Windows DOES work fine for programs designed for it. It is just
that 640k is not enough for serious multitasking. It works great
with one serious program and lots of little ones, which on the Mac
would be called desk accessories.

Doug McDonald