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From: liam@cs.qmw.ac.uk (William Roberts)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.aux
Subject: Good A/UX Compilers (was Re: Free Fortran for A/UX)
Summary: gcc is excellent, Unisoft Pascal isn't
Keywords: f2c
Message-ID: <1881@sequent.cs.qmw.ac.uk>
Date: 6 Apr 90 11:33:08 GMT
References: <10786@portia.Stanford.EDU> <1487@nems.dt.navy.mil>
Reply-To: liam@cs.qmw.ac.uk (William Roberts)
Organization: Computer Science Dept, QMW, University of London, UK.
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>So, my question is:  If the Apple fortran is so much slower than the
>NKR fortran, are the third party C compilers for A/UX better than the
>Apple C compiler for A/UX???

The gcc compiler is a great deal better than the standard A/UX
C compiler - it is also better than the standard Sun C
compiler, the standard HP C compiler etc etc. It is also free,
which is very good value for money!

    Dhrystones on the Mac IIfx

    cc, no register declarations             9,900
    cc, with register declarations          11,100
    gcc                                     12,500

Note that the IIfx has cache memory, which helps to overcome
the feeble register allocation of the standard cc compiler.

[[ Observant readers may know that the IIfx only runs A/UX 2.0:
   the figures quoted are for 1.1 binaries - yep, seems to be
   code compatible with 1.1 for straight A/UX system calls.
   Similar figures (albeit smaller) are obtained from the IIcx
   though the no register version is even worse still.
]]

How about it Apple? I know that Stallman hates you, but if you
stick to the letter of his "What you can and can't do" notice
on gcc then you could distribute it with A/UX 2.0 and make lots
of people very happy.


I did try the Unisoft Pascal Compiler under A/UX 1.1, but it
was not capable of handling real "Pascal for teaching computer
science"; for example it generated illegal instructions for
non-local gotos. If it's a validated ISO Pascal compiler then I
can suggest a few extra tests for the validation suite...:-)

-- 

William Roberts                 ARPA: liam@cs.qmw.ac.uk
Queen Mary & Westfield College  UUCP: liam@qmw-cs.UUCP
Mile End Road                   AppleLink: UK0087
LONDON, E1 4NS, UK              Tel:  01-975 5250 (Fax: 01-980 6533)