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Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!rutgers!mit-eddie!uw-beaver!tikal!transys!baron
From: baron@transys.UUCP (Joe Portman)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: Mark Williams ver 2.0 info
Message-ID: <321@transys.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 4-May-87 14:12:42 EDT
Article-I.D.: transys.321
Posted: Mon May  4 14:12:42 1987
Date-Received: Tue, 5-May-87 03:36:20 EDT
References: <8704302259.AA00661@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> <4722@utcsri.UUCP>
Reply-To: baron@transys.UUCP (Joe Portman)
Distribution: world
Organization: TransSystems Inc. Bellevue, WA
Lines: 40
Keywords: I got Version 2.0.1

In article <4722@utcsri.UUCP> asm@utcsri.UUCP (Anees Munshi) writes:
>Hello Folks!
>
>	I have version 1.4 of the Mark Williams compiler and am
>	thinking of sending in for the upgrade to 2.0 if the
>	improvements are substantial. Can you tell me the following:

>1. Has the compiler changed significantly? Does it allow inline
>   assembly language now? Has the optimzer been improved further?
	
They  claim 25% faster compile times and better code generation, but I
don't have an old version to compare to. I do have the mark johnson
shareware compiler, and I will say that mark williams does produce smaller
code.

>2. I heard that there was new documentation. Is this doc any different
>   from version 1.4 (single manual describes compiler, Make and
>   MicroEmacs rather well, but no docs on Gem calls).
	
	Yes there is a complete dsecription of all aes,vdi and bios, xbios
	calls with many examples. I was able to design a simple menued
	program with objects just reading from the manual.

>3. Have the libraries been improved further. What has changed specifically?
	Hmm, don't know. Other than the fact that they seem very complete.
	The startup code is particularly interesting. Hmm, they also have a
	note about supporting the beckermeyer C shell.

>4. In short, what improvements have been made?
	The documentation is excellent. Every routine I wanted to know
	about (and some I did'nt) is described.

	According to the docs, the MSH (shell) has been vastly improved.
	They do include a bootable ramdisk utility, very handy.


As an aside, I purchased the product as an evaluation unit for possible
sale by my company. I am very tough on such things, so flame away if you
like, the product is going to get woefully abused before we decide to sell
it.