Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watnot!watmath!clyde!rutgers!husc6!seismo!mcvax!ukc!dcl-cs!bath63!pes
From: pes@bath63.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: Compiler Question
Message-ID: <788@bath63.ux63.bath.ac.uk>
Date: Mon, 23-Feb-87 05:22:22 EST
Article-I.D.: bath63.788
Posted: Mon Feb 23 05:22:22 1987
Date-Received: Fri, 27-Feb-87 02:21:15 EST
References: <1264@husc6.UUCP>
Reply-To: pes@ux63.bath.ac.uk (Paul Smee)
Organization: AUCC c/o University of Bath
Lines: 28


I find Lattice C totally acceptable.  It has a number of useful compile time
options, including the ability to make either of the two major flavours of
object module.  Produces nice code, and quite fast *if* you remember to
explicitly declare things that can be held in short's to be short.

(My own opinion is that they got that one right, and that the rest of the
world is out of step.  Sloppily written programs are far less likely to blow
up obscurely when you use a long for something that could have been short,
than if you use a short for something that needs a long.  I see it as a safety
feature -- and I think (heavy opinion here) that anyone who considers himself
or herself a 'top-class' programmer should be using full explicit declarations
(i.e. short int or long int) and not relying on the defaults.)

It comes with a very nice library including all the GEM/TOS/etc mappings, and
additionally most if not all of the K&R Unix-like functions.  And, it's got
a floating point package which appears (haven't tested exhaustively) to be
accurate -- which I understand is not true of some C's available.

On the minus side, the library functions are not well documented, so you'll
need something external for that.  The editor is adequate but not great --
on the other hand, who buys compilers for the attached editor?  And at present
there's no nice debugger.  Since they're right around the corner from me
(MetaComCo UK, that is) I occasionally bug them about that one -- it's reached
the status of a Real Soon Now project.  Another potential weakness is that
(at least at my rev) they don't supply the init file you'd have to link in
if you're writing Desk Accessories -- I keep meaning to try to hack one up
-- but they do (of course?) have the one you need for standard applications.