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From: sw@nan.co.uk (Sak Wathanasin)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Problem using Zortech C++ and MacApp
Message-ID: <0101000D.uxsb5f@nan.co.uk>
Date: 22 May 91 21:40:42 GMT
Reply-To: sw@network-analysis-ltd.co.uk
Organization: Network Analysis Ltd
Lines: 44
X-Mailer: uAccess - Mac Release: 1.0.3

Got my copy of Zortech C++ today, installed it as per instructions (which were
pretty clear). I modified the MacApp C++ header files following the supplied
instructions (Zortech could have distributed them in the form of executable MPW
scripts, and saved me some copying & pasting).

I can build both non-MacApp and MacApp programs and they run, so I think I have
all the include files and libraries all in the right folders. The problem is
with programs that I build that incorporate the MacApp debugger. The built
program runs, and puts up the "Debug" menu. I can open the debug transcript
from the menu, but as soon as I try to "Enter MacApp Debugger" or try typing in
the Debug transcript window, the Mac freezes and I can only get out of it by
rebooting; I can't even get into Macsbug. Even "Show software versions" is
enough to cause the freeze sometimes.

The release and installation notes do not mention this, nor does the manual (or
at least I haven't been able to spot it). Have anyone else tried this? I'm
using MPW 3.2b12 (with the 3.3a1 shell) and MacApp 2.0.1 (from the ETO #3 CD)
using 6.0.7 on a IIfx with 8MB. If I rebuild using CFront, all is well, so I do
not suspect INIT clashes.

If you have had ZTC for a while, I'd be interested in hearing about your
experiences with it. I have it on a 30 day mbg, and I need to decide whether
to keep it. I've only tried it so far on small programs (about 2.5K lines),
but it doesn't seem any faster than MPW's CFront/C combo. In fact, if the
MacApp hdrs are precompiled, CPlus beats ZTC. The good news is that turning
on optimization doesn't appreciably slow down the compiler (despite the
manual giving impressions to the contary).

Just to get a feel for kind of speedups possible, I tried ZTC on the dhrystone
benchmark, and with all opts turned on, ZTC generated code that ran 25%
faster than compiling with no opt. It was about 10% faster than MPW C's
efforts, and just slightly better than MPW C with 68020 code generation
(ZTC doesn't have a '020 option; at least I couldn't find one). Of course,
one can't read too much into this one test, so if you have any more data
I'd be grateful for them.

Thanks in advance, and I'll summarize if there's any interest.

Sak Wathanasin
Network Analysis Limited

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