Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!ames!ncar!oddjob!uxc!uxc.cso.uiuc.edu!uxe.cso.uiuc.edu!mcdonald
From: mcdonald@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Microsoft cuts corners, actuall
Message-ID: <46100203@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu>
Date: 22 Aug 88 14:58:00 GMT
References: <9250@cs.tcd.ie>
Lines: 34
Nf-ID: #R:cs.tcd.ie:9250:uxe.cso.uiuc.edu:46100203:000:1904
Nf-From: uxe.cso.uiuc.edu!mcdonald    Aug 22 09:58:00 1988



>We bought a MicroSoft Fortran compiler some time ago ($400-500) for the
>(gasp - wait for it) IBM PC (no, really, I use Mac's now). We were working
>on a graphics project in Alsys Ada and wanted to write an interface to
>code developed in MS-Fortran. We never did - after months of working on it
>and going nowhere fast, we shelved it, and got in touch with MS technical
>support to see if they could help us. A very brief reply told us that the
>memory model used by MS on the PC "makes assumptions about the relationship
>between the styack segement register and the data segment register, it always
>assumes they are the same, SS=DS". (For those unfamiliar with the PC, all
>EXEcutable files deal with four segements of memory - stack, data, code and
>extra, using different ones at different times if the requirements for any
>climb above 64K).
>Now, if that isn't cutting corners, what is? Everybody else uses all four
>segements (or at least the main three) - that's what they are there for,
>but good old MS follow their usual line in plain old fashioned bloody
>mindedness in what seems to be a concerted effort to ensure that their
>stuff is incompatible with everything else (apart from their own stuff).

This is worthless drivel. 

If you wish to have a small memory model program on the 80x86, and
to support recursion using a stack, it is essentially NECESSARY to 
have SS==DS. Almost all compilers do assume this. All C compilers do,
at least all I know of. The Microsoft fortran compiler is simply
a different front end for their C compiler. There are products that
don't assume DS==SS, but they either don't support recursion or
are intrinsically large model. Microsoft's compiler products for
the PC are excellent - don't flame them about those. 

Besides - you think Microsoft is interested in helping Apple in any way?
Why should they, considering Apple's attitude toward them?