Xref: utzoo comp.sys.ibm.pc:15352 comp.lang.c:10009 Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!bloom-beacon!mit-eddie!killer!dcs!wnp From: wnp@dcs.UUCP (Wolf N. Paul) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc,comp.lang.c Subject: Re: $99 C++ compiler Message-ID: <78@dcs.UUCP> Date: 7 May 88 13:00:18 GMT References: <8805051248.AA20720@decwrl.dec.com> Reply-To: wnp@dcs.UUCP (Wolf N. Paul) Organization: DCS, Dallas, Texas Lines: 56 Summary: a descendant of Datalight C In article <8805051248.AA20720@decwrl.dec.com> nadkarni@erlang.dec.com (Ashok P. Nadkarni DTN 226-7448) writes: > > According to PC Week, Zortech has announced a C++ compiler > for $99. Note this is a compiler, not a preprocessor like > Guidelines and some others that require MS C to do the actual > compilation. Anyone ever heard of this company ? The price > sounds REAL GOOD to me. Maybe they're planning to do with C++ > what Borland did with Turbo-Pascal. The Zortech C++ compiler is a descendant of the Datalight C Compiler. Zortech used to market Datalight C in Britain, and have now acquired marketing rights for the US as well. I understand that they are rewriting the documentation, and are a bit behind in the actual release of their version. Zortech C++ is a true compiler, not a pre-processor, and is written to the specs in the C++ book. I will also be ANSI C compatible, and the object files are MSC compatible (unlike the old Datalight object files which were Lattice compatible). > Also, how about POWER C from MIX software ? $19.95 for the compiler > $19.95 for the debugger, and, get this, $10 for the library (450 > functions) source. Again sounds too good to be true. They claim > to beat Turbo-C and MS C in the standard benchmarks. I bought Power-C because it claims Turbo-C source code compatibility and was too cheap to pass up. It produces medium-model code (i.e. 64K code and unlimited data); it uses non-standard object and library file formats. There is a utility for converting MS object files into MIX object files; however there is no utility for going the other direction. A recent posting seemed to imply that Power-C was simply a new version of the old MIX compiler; I don't think that's true -- it is a completely re-written product. Note that MIX still sells the old compiler as well, for the same price. There are a number of errors in the manual (i.e. it seems they planned to support multiple memory models and a conversion utility to convert MIX files into OBJ files and then changed their minds), and a few bugs in the library (i.e. the functions in the ctime(3) group are confused about whether tm.tm_year should contain the year, or the year-1900). If you buy the library source for $10, you not only get that, but also a library manager (MERGE) and an assembler (ASM), not compatible with MASM. Sorry I am not very concerned with benchmarks of either speed or .exe size, so I cannot comment on those. Hope this is helpful anyway. -- Wolf N. Paul * 3387 Sam Rayburn Run * Carrollton TX 75007 * (214) 306-9101 UUCP: ihnp4!killer!dcs!wnp ESL: 62832882 INTERNET: wnp@DESEES.DAS.NET or wnp@dcs.UUCP TLX: 910-280-0585 EES PLANO UD