Aucbvax.5112
fa.unix-wizards
utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!unix-wizards
Wed Nov 11 13:25:09 1981
Whitesmiths C compilers
>From gwyn@UTEXAS-11 Wed Nov 11 12:47:31 1981
I just got on this mailing list and so I missed what has been said
about Whitesmiths compilers, but I can support Ron Minnich's comments
as to the usability of this product.  While not perfect (what is?),
Whitesmiths C system is nicely engineered for portability (have you
tried making other C compilers run on and/or generate code for several
systems?).  Geotronics has a small UNIX and cannot run "lint", but I
have often gotten good diagnostics from Whitesmiths C that have solved
some rather obscure coding problems...
The generated code is generally the same as that from the 7th Edition
Ritchie compiler, sometimes slightly better (on a PDP-11 -- I don't
have an 8080).  The library routines are more orthogonal than their
UNIX equivalents (although stdio is needed for portability, and is on
the way, I am told).  The next-to-last C Letter has a "printf" in it
for people who want one.
At the Austin USENIX conference I watched Whitesmiths people moving
files from system to system via floppy disk and getting things to
work together this way.  In my experience that is a real accomplishment.
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