Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!ima!haddock!suitti
From: suitti@haddock.ima.isc.com (Steve Uitti)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Microsoft Vs. Borland
Message-ID: <8325@haddock.ima.isc.com>
Date: 30 Sep 88 18:48:12 GMT
References: <876@galaxy> <1133@unccvax.UUCP> <2722@ima.ima.isc.com> <1142@unisec.usi.com> <839@proxftl.UUCP>
Reply-To: suitti@haddock.ima.isc.com (Steve Uitti)
Organization: Interactive Systems, Boston
Lines: 23

In article <839@proxftl.UUCP> markd@proxftl.UUCP (Mark Davidson) writes:
>...Although MSC's documentation is many
>times better than Turbo C's, I still like Turbo C,...
	What?!  With MSC, you get lots of documentation.  You need to
read it all.  It doesn't read like a book.  It can be hard enough to
find the right section to look stuff up in an index.  The manual comes
in ring binders.  The 5.1 updates came without binders, but the
original ring binders were already full!  Ring binders are a pain to
deal with, if for example, you want to read the thing while commuting
to work on the train...
	With Turbo C (1.4), the manuals are two edge bound soft cover
books.  If you already know C, you only have to read about three or
four chapters from one book.  The other book describes the libraries.
You can read the one book, and index the other.  You can get started
quickly, and continue quickly.  Thats what documentation is for.
	More is not better.  (Although some say "less" is "more", but
that's a lie too).
	I've only written letters to Microsoft to complain about
support and ask stuff.  I received a reply.  Though it answered my
questions it was not especially helpful.  I've never required support
for Turbo.  The compiler has NEVER crashed.  The best support is not
having to use it.  I no longer develop stuff in MSC.
	Stephen.