Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbatt!cbosgd!ucbvax!kansas-state.CSNET!harv From: harv@kansas-state.CSNET (Harvard Townsend) Newsgroups: net.lang.mod2 Subject: Re: BITNET mail follows Message-ID: <8609290931.12396@ur-cayuga.arpa> Date: Fri, 26-Sep-86 11:10:12 EDT Article-I.D.: ur-cayug.8609290931.12396 Posted: Fri Sep 26 11:10:12 1986 Date-Received: Tue, 30-Sep-86 20:24:57 EDT Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Organization: The ARPA Internet Lines: 42 We are running Modula Corp.'s one-pass M2 compiler on a network (3COM) of Zenith PCs (IBM-compatible). In general, I am satisfied. The old 4-pass interpreter from them was SLOW, so this is a vast improvement. My experience with their products is that they are buggy (I found 3 bugs in the compiler the first day I received it), but they are usually quick to respond with fixes and (almost) free updates. The one-pass compiler really flies on a Z-158 with >=512K memory and a hard disk. The speed is satisfactory on a Z-150 (slower clock speed) with 320K and a single floppy drive on the network. So far the students haven't complained (except one student when the compiler locked up his PC due to a syntax error where he declared an identifier twice in the same scope! He had to turn off the PC to reboot. I called Modula Corp. about this one). We also bought their symbolic debugger. It is designed for a system with a mouse, but I have found it useful for tracking down obscure bugs. We have an OLD copy of the Logitech compiler. I have not used it in a long time, so I will withhold comment. We bought the Modula Corp. compiler because they were the lowest bidder. We got a VERY good deal, I believe. We bought a copy of a Modula-2 system from Interface Technologies in Houston, Texas. It was also buggy, but my biggest gripe was with their editor. It is a window-oriented, syntax-directed editor. I don't like syntax directed editors, but that is just my own bias. However, with one keystroke, you can erase your entire MODULE, and the "undo" command did not work in the editor. This is not very good for a student environment, to say the least. This was about 1-1/2 years ago, so I don't know what the product is like now - or if the company even exists, for that matter. I have many examples of MODULA-2 programs which use the coroutine facilities (note that they are not truely "concurrent processes", although you could build a time-slicing scheduler for coroutines, as many others have already). They are mostly from assignments for the undergraduate operating systems course I teach here. I'll send you some examples in separate messages. ______________________________________ Harvard Townsend, Systems Administrator Kansas State University, Dept. of Computer Science Manhattan, KS 66506 (913)532-6350 CSNET: harv@kansas-state -or- harv%kansas-state@csnet-relay.arpa -or- harv%kansas-state@relay.cs.net BITNET: harv@ksuvax1.bitnet -or- harv%ksuvax1.bitnet@WISCVM.WISC.EDU UUCP: ihnp4!ltuxa!ksuvax1!harv