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From: glenn@welch.jhu.edu (Glenn M. Mason)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c++
Subject: Re: C++ environments
Message-ID: <1991Apr15.224206.2050@welch.jhu.edu>
Date: 15 Apr 91 22:42:06 GMT
References: <2529@amethyst.math.arizona.edu>
Reply-To: glenn@welchlab.welch.jhu.edu (Glenn M. Mason)
Distribution: usa
Organization: Welch Medical Library, Baltimore
Lines: 32

In article <2529@amethyst.math.arizona.edu> deb@fluor.opt-sci.arizona.edu (Deborah Thompson) writes:
>
>Okay, now that we've had a question about Saber C++,
>is anyone using the ParcPlace environment, ObjectWorks C++?
>My group is moving to C++ from C and ObjectWorks is at
>least competitive with Saber, if not actually a better buy
>money wise.  I'd appreciated any input and would be glad
>to summarize if there is sufficient interest.

I had the displeasure of evaluating ObjectWorks 1.01 for SunOS some time
ago. I am not sure what the current version is, state of bugs, etc., but
I can comment on the version I was testing. It sucked! There were no hooks
that would allow me to make use of existing makefiles for existing code.
There was no way to use a makefile at all from within the ObjectWorks
environment. The most disasterous *flaw* that I uncovered was that was
absolutely no way to pass any flags to your C++ compiler running under-
neath the development environment ... no preproccessor control, no code
optimization, no control over compiler output, no control over allignment,
symbol table generation, etc., etc., etc. When I called technical support
to find a work-around for this, they couldn't come up with anything. At
that instant I threw the tapes into the circular file and deleted the
sources.

I can't comment on Saber-C++, but I have seen and used Saber-C. It is
excellent. It is very easy to use and is very powerful. It provides hooks
in your makefiles so that makefiles that manage huge projects can be
utilized from within the Saber environment. I'm not sure about the prices,
but I believe they are both in the same ballpark. I would definitely look
more closely at the Saber product before I made a decision.


Glenn