Conference hydra::amiga_v1

If you want to program in a "real" language;
I suggest that you buy a real compiler.  You'll have a hard time learning
a language like C if you have a compiler which is both unsupported and
undependable.  Yeah, I know purchasing a compiler is expensive, and
I'll be the first to admit that my tastes in software are strange;
since two of the only 4 software titles I've purchased for my amiga in
two years were C  compilers.

Still, 250 (or much less from ABEL supply!??) for a MANX compiler
isn't such a bad investment; particularly compared with the cost of 
certain word processors which are available and worthless.

Dave

re:	.1

... ditto!

The ONLY piece of software I've bought (until yesterday) since I got the
machine (quite a long time ago) is the MANX compiler.


dave


P.S. 	The item I bought yesterday was Flight Simulator - II (yes I finally
	broke down and got it (from Abels of course) :^)

I think your right. I just re-read the description of PDC and it sounds like
a nightmare.

Guess I'll have to break down and BUY one!

I'm not learning C (I'm just finishing up a ~20,000 line VAX C environmental
control/automation program) but I AM learning the Amiga environment.

Guess tha last thing I need is GURU's because the COMPILER screwed up!


Thanks,

John

    
    
    	For those still interested in the PD C compiler it is on
    FF110 and I'm arc-ing it now. It should be up by morning.
    
    
    	Steve Peters
    

Has anyone used the PD C compiler?  How *bad* is it?


I was looking through the Abel price list and found:

	Amiga C		   - $92
	Lattice C	   - $146
	Lattice C (prof)   - $238


(Macro)
	Lattice Assembler  - $61



Is Amiga C any good? 

What about Manx vs Lattice (I know there are other notes in here on this, 
But what are the latest opinions?)

What's the difference between Lattice regular and Professional C?


Amiga Assembler ?
Lattice Assmebler ? 
PD Assembler (on FF110) ?


John

    Amiga C is Lattice C v3.03
    
    since then Lattice C has released v3.10 and currently v4.0
    
    -dave

    
    
    	I tried to upload it last night but failed. The Assembler made
    it and can be found in
    
    
    	MVCAD3::user0:[amiga.ff110]
    
    I'll try the compiler again tonight.
    
    
    Also while ARC-ing last night I found out that the compiler
    produces assember code that must then be run through the PD
    assembler above. The object code then can be linked with 
    ALINK or BLINK.
    
    
    		Steve Peters
    

Except A68k is a set of C files...  You need a C compiler to generate
the Assembler. But the C compiler generates assembler...

Thanks for the upload Steve!

John    

    
    
    	The PDC compiler is now in MVCAD3::user0:[amiga.ff110]
    
    The file PDC.ARC contains the sources as well as the executables.
    
    
    		Steve Peters
    

    Hi,
    
    Would somebody like to give a small review of PDC?  I am getting
    sick and tired of the cruddy code produced by MANX and LATTICE.
    I would sure like to write some optimization code for a public domain
    package if it comes with sources.
    
    	--Mike Leibow

    Hi,
    
    I am just now trying my hand at 'C' so I don't want to spend the
    bucks for a commercial compiler.  However, I can't get any of the
    public domain compilers to work.  I keep getting 'undefined symbol'
    errors from BLINK on the three compilers PDC, SMALLC, and SOZOBON.
    There was an article about PDC in one of the magazines that said
    header files could be derived from small.lib, I don't know how to
    accomplish this.  I suspect not having a 'STDIO.H' is the problem
    because 'printf' is one of the undefined symbols.  I would appreciate
    any help on this, I would like to learn C but not enough to spend
    $100+ first (maybe after I am more experienced!).
    
    Thanks,
    Steve.
    

    The 'undefined symbol' error is due to the fact that the linker
    can't resolve one of the references you've made.  You are not 
    linking your code with the library that provides input/output.

    With Lattice, I belive that library is the 'base' library
    LC.LIB.  With VAXC those routines are contained in VAXCRTL.OLB,
    or using shareable images, VAXCRTL.EXE.  I would guess that
    SMALL.LIB contains a subset of the 'full' library  I don't have
    my Lattice stuff handy, so I can't be positive, but a... 

    >BLINK FROM foo.o TO foo LIB lc.lib+amiga.lib

    ...does the trick for me.  (slight pause) I just took a quick at
    the PDC archive, and you must supply the amiga.lib.  If you've
    got that, then the next step is to use Matt Dillons Xprint.asm
    routines to build an object, and link with that to supply your
    I/O routines.  This may be done for you, during the 'making'
    of PDC.  I don't know.
    
    After reading the README, I would suggest purchasing a compiler.
    PDC doesn't sound very stable, and may cause high blood pressure.
    
    In C, include files are mainly for defining structures/routines/macros
    that you will use, such as FILE, EOF, fprintf, etc.  If you have
    VAXC installed on your VAX, you can take a look at stdio.h.  They're
    located in SYS$LIBRARY.  Nothing magical here, as a matter of fact
    printf is declared as...

    int printf  (const char *format_spec, ...);

    If you don't have any luck with the 'free' compilers, you can spend
    some extra time at work playing with VAXC, then buy an Amiga compiler.
    (Or, if a GNU gcc Amiga port is ever released, you could use that.
    I've got gcc running at work, and it seems quite good.)
    
    ~Steve

    Thanks for the info.  Its too bad that PDC just doesn't seem to
    be a workable program, I can't justify the purchase of a commercial
    compiler for my meager needs.
    
    Steve.