Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!ncis.llnl.gov!helios.ee.lbl.gov!pasteur!ames!pacbell!att!chinet!saj
From: saj@chinet.chi.il.us (Stephen Jacobs)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: I love it!
Summary: Mark Williams C is very Unix-like
Message-ID: <7521@chinet.chi.il.us>
Date: 25 Jan 89 15:30:07 GMT
References: <7367@xanth.cs.odu.edu>
Organization: Chinet - Chicago Public Access UNIX
Lines: 22

In article <7367@xanth.cs.odu.edu>, scott@cs.odu.edu writes:
[lots deleted]
>   My next question is a probably much easier to answer.... if I wanted to 
> port something over from a vax or a sun system and compile it on my st--
> would this be an easy task?  Can programs be easily moved?  I am just 
> starting with C but I just want to know if it is feasable-- I hear that you
> can do this quite easily with an Amiga... and I thought that it would also
> be just as easy with an ST.... but, I could be wrong.
> 
>    Scott D. Yelich                           scott@cs.odu.edu  [128.82.8.1] 

I make a hobby of porting Unix stuff to the ST with Mark Williams C.  The
language and libraries are very much like the Unix standards.  There are a
few things to watch out for: VAX (and I think Sun) uses 32-bit int-s; ST
uses 16-bit int-s.  Everyone uses 32-bit pointers.  The consequences are 
obvious, and must be watched for.  It's also convenient to make your own
string.h, which MWC doesn't have, because many UNix programs include it.  A
collection of common tools is nice: getopt(), curses and the Berkeley 
directory routines are used a lot.  It's a good way to learn
1)the C language
2)to use a debugger.
                                 Steve J.