Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!mcsun!corton!imag!gourdol
From: gourdol@imag.imag.fr (Gourdol Arnaud)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: Pascal deficiency?
Message-ID: <16650@imag.imag.fr>
Date: 18 Dec 90 20:50:37 GMT
References: <q72au3w163w@questor.wimsey.bc.ca> <SANDY.90Dec18095930@snoopy.cs.umass.edu>
Reply-To: gourdol@imag.fr (Gourdol Arnaud)
Organization: IMAG Institute, University of Grenoble, France
Lines: 32

LSP and LSC are both not very good compilers, I mean for the code
the build being not "good" code. BTW MPW C3.0 is not a good compiler
either.
I had the chance to write a compiler and so have been involved
in comparing different compilers performance, bot on the Mac and 
on Sun. Sun C compiler IS very good. There are many levels of
optimisation (4 in fact) which can be actived with -O1 to -O4.
With -O4 if you write a program like :
main()
{ int i,j;
  i = 0;
  j = 1;
  i = j++ + 1;
};

the compiler will produce... nothing. (Hey ! this code does
nothing, does it ?)

Writing optimisation for Pascal IS more difficult than for C, in the
sens that in C, when we use the ++ operator you say to the compiler
"Hey, stupid, don't forget to use the INC operator that exist
 in assembly language!"
When you do i := i + 1; in Pascal, the compiler must detect that
it can (and should) use the inc operator. Much more difficult
when the expression is a bit complicated (like a[i]).

There is still no good compiler on the Mac (except GCC maybe ?)
either in C or Pascal.

(Of course, LSP and LSC are REAL love for programming and debugging
as compared to cc, dbx and adb on Sun !!!)

Arnaud.