Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!lll-winken!lll-lcc!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!BROWNVM.BITNET!ST901922
From: ST901922@BROWNVM.BITNET ("Edward S. Miller")
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Laser C
Message-ID: <8802250639.AA17856@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>
Date: 25 Feb 88 05:18:31 GMT
Sender: usenet@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 41


LASER C HAS ARRIVED!

I unexpectedly received a package from Megamax yesterday (2/23)
containing three disks comprising the upgrade of Megamax C, some interim
docs (look like xerox of manual, and provide a glimpse of what looks
like a GREAT manual!!!), and a note of apology from the company.  They
say the full docs will arrive soon after 2/29/88.

I guess this info will be of more use to those who might be
contemplating buying Laser C, because I assume that if I got the
software, so did the rest of the Megamax owners who will read this!
Anyway, the package looks real nice.  The editor and shell are now
combined, and the shell has been GREATLY enhanced.  It contains
UNIX-style environment-string management (maybe something like MWC, from
what I have gathered by reading this newsgroup's postings), a sort of
mini-dos shell (very well done), a dynamic disk cache that, from my
already heavy usage, ahs proven to be an amazing piece of work!.  It
also manages a set of user-selectable tools, which are kept
RAM-resident.  That's right! When you load the shell, you can tell it to
load the compiler, linker, make-interpreter, and any other utilities you
want.  Then compilations are almost INSTANTANEOUS.  You don't even have
the overhead of loading from a ram disk!
The disk cache routines seem to be so efficient that you seriously
do not need a ram disk at all.  I used to have a 512k ram disk for
Megamax development at all times.  No more!  The editor has been
enhanced; the scrolling is faster than anything I have ever seen for the
ST, even faster than most Mac editors and wp's I have seen. (The only
problem is that they wrote their own windowing routines and occasionally
there are very minor glitches with them.)
The shell will also trap 68000 exceptions and provide you with a
symbolic traceback if you asked for a symbol table at link time.  The
program nm.ttp has been added to the package to read a symbol table.
The ONLY thing missing is a source-level debugger.  I have never
used MWC, but I bet csd with Megamax C would be quite a combo. Seriouly,
folks, the hello, world program compiles IN LESS THAN FIVE SECONDS with
no ram disk or other tricks.
Sorry if I have rambled on but I am absolutely in love with this
product! I KNEW that $200 was worth it!

DISCLAIMER: this is my first posting, so the disclaimer expressed herein
is nonbinding.