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From: SRWMRBD@windy.dsir.govt.nz (ROBERT)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c++
Subject: Re: C++ for DOS/OS2
Message-ID: <661@windy.dsir.govt.nz>
Date: 15 Sep 89 15:10:21 GMT
Organization: DSIR Wellington, NZ
Lines: 42

Steve Kearns writes

>I would recommend AGAINST going with Zortech.  The product (1.07, the
>latest version as far as I know) has some very serious bugs which 
>generate incorrect code.  And the bugs are such that they can bite you
>in very subtle ways.  

>The best product I have found is the Glockespiel 1.2E1 version of the
>AT&T translator.  This comes with the ImageSoft CommonView package, though
....

I suggest you not expect too much from the Glockenspiel 1.2E1 C++
translater for MsDos unless you have a 386 with user area extended to
900K.

Otherwise two medium sized hxx files will make the translater
run out of storage. And you are going to need lots of hxx files if you
are into reusable software.

And when you include the time taken by the Ms C compiler, compiler times
are long and so are the code files.

The glockenspiel compiler is useful for verifying that ones C++ program
developed with Zortech will compile on something closer to AT&T and for
trying to see if a problem is yours or Zortech's. (Zortech can also be
used to see if a problem is yours or Glockenspiel's)

The cost is getting significant.

Zortech seems to cost about $150 and my update to 1.07 cost me $20.

Glockenspiel cost me $495 from Oasys for a version that was so buggy it
wasn't worth wasting time with plus $350 for the upgrade from
ImageSoft. Its really the cost of the upgrade that hurts. And in this part
of the world the costs of updating the C compiler also hurt.

The answer maybe is there is not a really satisfactory C++
compiler or translater for MsDos on PCs or 286 ATs. But I am still
pretty impressed with Zortech.

Someone who reads this news group wrote saying they were working on
a 386 compiler. Maybe they should report progress.