1. Re: compiler?? step 4
On 2000-06-07 EUPHORIA at LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU said:
EU>Beaumont Furniss wrote:
EU>> I found that I was able to construct a type of development
EU>> environment for my little C [ almost ansi ] compiler , through
EU> QuickBasic ,
EU>> used as a batch file with a dos based menu program.
EU>> This is quite adequate for learning ANSI C.
EU>I agree - I find the PCC (Personal C Compiler) by Mark DeSmet for
EU>DOS useful for learning as well. The download is only 173k ! If
EU>interested you can
EU>http://www.rescript.fsnet.co.uk/windoc/pcc12c.htm
I'm working on ANSI examples and documentation to coincide with
this , the text I'm using is : Teach Yourself C , second edition ,
by Herbert.Schildt.
EU>> Beyond that an easy to use IDE is preferable , if necessary ;
EU>> written in something like euphoria.
EU>If you like IDE's then good for you but they are not for everyone.
EU>> Fair enough , how big , typically ; is the unix compiler
EU>>though. How available is this free software going to be and
EU>>how concise , most of the 'freeware' I encounter is a little
EU>>second rate and seems to be an afterthought.
EU>Well as there is lots of freeware then inevitably plenty of it will
EU>be second or even third rate although classifiy software and rating
EU>it will always be a subjective process. Just now you expressed a
EU>preference for IDE's where as I didn't. So you might call one
EU>particular IDE first rate and I might call it second rate. That
EU>doesn't really mean much in itself apart from the fact that
EU>different people have different perceptions and requirements. And
EU>a good thing too! It would be a rather dull place otherwise 
A piece of C code might well do something useful and compile
successfully under one compiler ; yet be difficult to comprehend
and compile using another . This is second rate software , even though
the task required is done effeciently.
Always document and code clearly , using comments where appropriate ;
so that anyone can compare the code to the documentation.
Always write clear documentation , there's less of an excuse now that
we have a few standards like ansi C ; you can't complain about having
to rush off next week to learn another language.
EU>> If this is such a good idea why haven't we already discovered
EU>>a site that's taking software developers through the step by
EU>>step of learning and developing with [unix] compilers.
EU>Firstly good freeware will have documentation included in the
EU>distribution explaining just this. Also some web sites are out
EU>there with this sort of information. Two that spring to mind are
EU>Sun Freeware:
EU>http://www.subfreeware.com
EU>and the HP-UX Porting and Archive Centre - the UK mirror is at:
EU>http://hpux.connect.org.uk/
HP had been rather dependent upon Microsoft for there O/S.
EU>but there are around 9 other mirrors. These sites will give you the
EU>precompiled binary (zero compilation work for the end user) and also
EU>information on how to compile it if you want to. And you may want
EU>to compile it yourself, for example, if you want to modify the
EU>software for your environment.
sounds mighty useful , I'm still sorting out compilation at an elementary
level , a few advanced attempts might give me incentive to complete what
I'm doing , or bring me back to earth.
EU>> And how expensive or available were these.
EU>I can't really give numbers on the cost of UNIX compilers provided
EU>by the UNIX vendors themselves - sorry.
I'd say , that originally , these were intended for rather large
machines ; perhaps even mainframes.
EU>> So why isn't everyone using unix and why has linux come into
EU>>existence ?
EU>Please remember that Linux is just another *implementation* of the
EU>UNIX operating system. It is different to commercial UNIX
EU>implementations because it is free. However Linux isn't the only
EU>free operating system around. FreeBSD is another free
EU>implementation of the UNIX operating system.
I thought that Linux was considerably smaller in size than Unix.
EU>>Why aren't we all using UNIX?
eu> Well it isn't for everyone (re:
EU>previous comments on perceptions and requirements). Also we could
EU>just as easily ask "why aren't we all driving Ford motorcars?".
EU>What isn't so easy is answering the question!
Perhaps Unix was just too big , too expensive and too complicated for
most early PC applications.
EU>> Does a unix compiler work from linux ?
EU>Yes - Linux typically comes bundled with the freeware GNU gcc
EU>compiler. If you find a Linux that doesn't you can load GNU gcc on
EU>afterwards anyway.
What are the advantages of Linux over Dos then , especially as Dos
now has the 32-bit extension. Is Linux/Unix readily extendable to 64
or more bits ?
A *.exe compiled from Dos/Win , Linux/Unix/FreeBSD , is transportable
across some/all platforms ?
EU>----
EU>Regards,
EU>Andy Cranston.
Net-Tamer V 1.11 - Test Drive
