Magnum One

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ Magnum One / Magnum One (Mid-American Digital) (Disc Manufacturing).iso / d12 / ctutor.arc / COMPILER.DOC < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1988-02-28 | 24.4 KB | 693 lines

Coronado Enterprises C TUTOR July 7, 1986 COMPILER.DOC file Notes on a few C compilers. It is assumed that you have a C compiler and that you have somehow learned to use it. Some helping hints are given below for some of the more popular compilers and even if your partic- ular compiler is not listed, some of the hints given for other compilers may help you with yours. Some standards do tend to exist within compilers and compiler writers tend to do things basically the same way. If notes are not given below about your compiler, we at Coronado Enterprises will be unable to help. We have listed notes on all of the compilers we have available for evaluation or use. These notes are not intended to be exhaustive or used as the basis for a final decision on your part to select a given compiler. Exhaustive notes and evaluations are given regularly in computer publications. If you are undecided as to which compiler you should use, you are directed to these. ****************************************************************** The following compilers have been tested on all files in chapters 1 through 13 and the results are noted. 1. Aztec C86 version 3.20e (Commercial) This is a very capa- ble compiler that can do nearly anything you ask of it. Even so, it is still reasonably small and can easily be used with a dual floppy machine. It compiles very fast, but was not used enough to gain the experience to comment very much on it and its capabilities. It includes enough additional utilities that it seems to have no limit. The two smaller models were not available for evaluation at all. Due to the complete lack of an index in the documen- tation, and the fact that the documentation assumes a high level of proficiency in C, this system is not recommended for the beginner. 2. Datalight C compiler - version 1.15 This compiler is very inexpensive, but compiles very quickly to an unusually fast executing file compared to its price. However, it does not handle I/O properly, (the putchar() does not output to the monitor in programs that work with all other compilers), and it causes the system to crash following an attempt to link files with errors. Due to these oversights on the part of the compiler writer, this implementation is not recommended for any purpose. If these shortcomings are fixed in future releases, it will be a good system for use on a floppy only system because the files are small. 3. DeSmet C Compiler - version 2.51 This relatively inexpen- sive compiler does an excellent job, especially when consid- ering the price. It compiles very fast and results in fast executable files. It does some things in an unstandard way but all compilers do since there is no standard yet. This would be an excellent choice for beginning and for most of your programming needs. It is extremely easy to use. 4. Ecosoft C compiler - ver 3.11 & 3.13 This compiler sells for only $59.95 and is as complete a compiler as you can find if you only need a small memory model. Their small model uses 64K for program and another 64K for data, so the limitation is not very severe, and this compiler should meet nearly all of your needs. It does have one small problem that is being fixed for all future editions. During a telephone conversation with Ecosoft, they acknowl- edged the problem and told me if I would return the disks, they would update them after the problem was fixed. I did return them as they said, and they updated my disks to version 3.13, but with the problem still not fixed. Another phone call indicated that they had me listed for a free up- date when it was fixed. By the time you read this, I expect the problem to be history. The Ecosoft compiler is probably the best value of all comp- ilers tested here. 5. Lattice C compiler - version 2.15 This compiler has been replaced with version 3.00 below but since many copies were sold, it is very popular. If you have a choice, don't buy this one since there are far better compilers available for the money. 6. Lattice C compiler - version 3.00 This is a very capable compiler that still has the ability to be run conveniently with only two floppy disks. If you want a high end compiler to use on a dual floppy machine, this is probably your best choice. The documentation is nearly worthless, and you will be left with a mess trying to get it set up until you gain some experience programming in C. 7. Microsoft C compiler - version 3.0 This is absolutely the top of the line compiler and should be your choice if you will be engaged in very serious programming. It seems to have essentially no limitations except that a hard disk is required to use it due to the large files. The documen- tation that comes with this compiler is probably the best I have ever seen for any compiler for any machine. It is simply fantastic. It even has a complete definition of the C programming language. 8. MIX C compiler - version 1.0.0 This is an inexpensive, yet very capable compiler that comes highly recommended for the beginning C programmer because it is so easy to use. It was used to develop the vast majority of the example programs in this tutorial and it never failed to do any- thing that I called upon it to do. It does suffer one big problem however, and that is the fact that the resultant code is very slow running. It is probably about one tenth the speed of the others, unless you go to the trouble to use the speedup utility included with the compiler. Using it will get the speed up to nearly the speed of the other compilers. It is very simple to use and it would be the recommended compiler for use in learning to program in C, and especially if you are limited to floppies on your machine. It is definitely worth the $39.95 purchase price. ************** Aztec C86 version 3.20e (Commercial) ***************** Note; The following suggested setup only uses the small memory and program model which is sufficient for nearly all of your programming needs. It is suggested that you simply use this configuration and as you gain experience with C, add some of the other features. (suggested floppy disk setup) Contents of Drive A COMMAND.COM CCL.BAT (as listed below) EDIT.COM (your editor, whatever you use) STDIO.H (From the Aztec disks) CTYPE.H (From the Aztec disks) *.C (the files you wish to compile) Contents of Drive B CC.EXE (from the Aztec disks) AS.EXE (from the Aztec disks, may need to move to a:) LN.EXE (from the Aztec disks) C.LIB (from the Aztec disks) M.LIB (from the Aztec disks) (suggested hard disk setup) Put all above files in one directory, and remove the references to drive B in the batch file below. (Start of batch file CCL.BAT) REM THIS IS THE AZTEC C COMPILER IF EXIST %1 GOTO ERROR EDIT %1.C B:CC %1.C IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO CLERR B:LN %1.O B:M.LIB B:C.LIB IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO CLERR %1 PAUSE ERASE %1.O ERASE %1.EXE ERASE %1.BAK GOTO DONE :ERROR REM DO NOT INCLUDE THE .C EXTENSION PAUSE GOTO DONE :CLERR REM COMPILE OR LINK ERROR PAUSE :DONE (end of CCL.BAT file) The following problems were found when using the Aztec C86 compiler on the files in chapters 1 through 13. The files included in chapter 14 were not compiled with this compiler. Chapter 5 - BACKWARD.C This compiler uses more than 8 characters of the variable name. Change both calls to the func- tion to read the same, forward_and_backward (lines 8 and 19). Chapter 9 - SINGLEIO.C No getch() function. The manual describes how to read in a character without waiting for the carriage return on pages "libov.19" through "libov.21". It is not a simple thing to do nor is it in any way standard (as compared to other systems). It will not be elaborated on here. Chapter 9 - BETTERIN.C No Getch() function. See above. Chapter 11 - UNION1.C The bytes have ff in high order bits if the MSB of the byte is on. Refer to text about this. Chapter 13 - BITOPS.C The bytes have ff in high order bits if the MSB of the byte is on. Refer to UNION1.C note. Chapter 13 - UPLOW.C Change function name to mix_up_the_chars. ************* DeSmet C Compiler - version 2.51 ********************** Note; The following setup can be run on a single floppy system, but you may want to move some of the files to another drive. Contents of drive A COMMAND.COM C88.EXE (From the DeSmet disks) GEN.EXE (From the DeSmet disks) ASM88.EXE (From the DeSmet disks) STDIO.H (From the DeSmet disks) BIND.EXE (From the DeSmet disks) CSTDIO.S (From the DeSmet disks) CCL.BAT (As defined below) A hard disk setup would be the same. (Start of batch file CCL.BAT) REM DESMET C COMPILER IF EXIST %1 GOTO ERROR REM THE NEXT LINE CALLS WHATEVER EDITOR YOU USE EDIT %1.C C88 %1 IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO CLERR BIND %1 IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO CLERR %1 PAUSE ERASE %1.EXE ERASE %1.BAK ERASE %1.O GOTO DONE :ERROR REM DO NOT INCLUDE THE .C EXTENSION PAUSE GOTO DONE :CLERR REM COMPILE OR LINK ERROR PAUSE :DONE (End of batch file CCL.BAT) Problems encountered with DeSmet C on files in chapters 1 - 13. The files in chapter 14 were not attempted with this compiler and will be left up to the user to try. Chapter 5 - BACKWARD.C This compiler uses more than eight charac- ters of the variable name. Change both calls to the function so they read the same, forward_and_backward (lines 8 and 19). Chapter 9 - SIMPLEIO.C The function getchar() reads in immediately which is different from all other compilers. The dis- cussion in the text therefore does not agree with this compilers operation. Chapter 9 - SINGLEIO.C There is no getch() function, but getchar() does what it is supposed to do. Sustitute getchar() for getch() in line 10 and remove the putchar(c) from the next line and the program will act as defined in the text. Chapter 9 - BETTERIN.C Same as for SINGLEIO.C above. Chapter 13 - CHARCLAS.C Remove the #include "ctype.h" from the second line. It is not needed with this compiler. Chapter 13 - UPLOW.C Remove the #include "ctype.h" from the second line. It is not needed with this compiler. Also change the function name to mix_up_the_chars because this com- piler uses more than 8 characters for a variable name. ************** Ecosoft C compiler - version 3.11 & 3.13 ************* (recommended setup) Exactly as listed in the manual - The documentation is excellent and very clear. Only the hard disk setup was tested. (start of batch file used - CCL.BAT) IF EXIST %1 GOTO ERROR CED %1.C CC %1 IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO CLERR %1 ERASE %1.EXE ERASE %1.OBJ ERASE %1.BAK GOTO DONE :ERROR REM DO NOT INCLUDE THE .C EXTENSION PAUSE GOTO DONE :CLERR REM COMPILE OR LINK ERROR PAUSE :DONE (end of batch file used) Required changes for use with Ecosoft C compiler - ver 3.11 & 3.13 Note; During compilation of a few of the files you will get a small number of warnings. These warnings are obvious and are meant to be an aid to you in discovering possible errors in your code. One of the most obvious is when a floating point number is assigned to an integer. This is done as an illustration for you, but the compiler generates a warning and continues. The fact that this happens is a positve vote for this compiler. Chapter 5 - BACKWARD.C This compiler used more than 8 characters for a variable name. Change both calls to the function to read the same, forward_and_backward. (lines 8 and 19) Chapter 10 - READTEXT.C and READGOOD.C Both of these files use the function fscanf() and look for a -1 at the end of the file. The end of file does not return a -1 and the loop continues indefinitely. This is the compiler error mentioned before and they say they are fixing it. Recomendation; Do not use this construct at this time. Chapter 11 - UNION1.C The bytes have ff in the high order bits if the MSB is on. Refer to text about this. Chapter 12 - All three files. Add the line #include "malloc.h" to the beginning of each file. This will define the type of return malloc will generate and will allow the pro- grams to operate as described. Ecosoft is very picky about the constructs used, and requires the header to check for problems. Chapter 13 - BITOPS.C The bytes have ff in the high order bits if the MSB is on. Refer to text about this. Chapter 13 - UPLOW.C Change function name to mix_up_the_chars Chapter 14 - As of this writing, none of these files have been com- piled with this compiler. ************** Lattice C compiler - version 2.15 ******************** Note; The following suggested setup only uses the small memory and program model which is sufficient for nearly all of your programming needs. It is suggested that you simply use this configuration and as you gain experience with C, add some of the other features. (suggested floppy disk setup) Contents of Drive A COMMAND.COM CCL.BAT (as listed below) EDIT.COM (your editor, whatever you use) STDIO.H (From the Lattice disks) DOS.H (From the Lattice disks) CTYPE.H (From the Lattice disks) *.C (the files you wish to compile) CS.OBJ (From the Lattice disks) Contents of Drive B LC1.EXE (From the Lattice disks) LC2.EXE (From the Lattice disks) LINK.EXE (From your DOS system disks) LCMS.LIB (From the Lattice disks) LCS.LIB (From the Lattice disks) (suggested hard disk setup) Put all above files in one directory, and remove the references to drive B in the batch file below. (start of batch file CCL.BAT) REM C COMPILER, LATTICE VERSION 2.15 IF EXIST %1 GOTO EXTERR REM THE NEXT LINE CALLS WHATEVER SCREEN EDITOR YOU USE EDIT %1.C B:LC1 %1 IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO P2ABT B:LC2 %1 IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO WAIT REM THIS IS THE C LINKER B:LINK CS+%1,%1,NUL,B:LCMS+B:LCS; IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO LKERFND REM THE NEXT LINE IS THE EXECUTION LINE %1 PAUSE ERASE %1.EXE ERASE %1.OBJ ERASE %1.BAK GOTO DONE :EXTERR REM YOU PROBABLY INCLUDED THE .C EXTENTION, DO NOT INCLUDE IT REM IT WILL CAUSE THE LINKER STEP TO FAIL PAUSE GOTO DONE :LKERFND REM LINK ERROR(S) FOUND PAUSE GOTO DONE :P2ABT REM PASS 2 ABORTED DUE TO PASS 1 ERRORS PAUSE GOTO DONE :WAIT REM PASS 2 ERROR(S) FOUND PAUSE :DONE ( end of batch file used ) The following problems were found when using the Lattice C compiler on the files included on this disk. All files - Warning: No STACK segment. This message occurs with every file, ignore it. It allows you to convert the resultant file to a *.COM file whick loads faster. (use EXE2BIN.EXE) Chapter 5 - FLOATSQ.C Warning 85: function return value mismatch This appears to be a bug in the compiler but it doesn't affect the operation of the program. Chapter 11 - NESTED.C Add the following line as the first line of the program to increase the internal stack size. int _stack = 4000; Chapter 11 - UNION1.C (This program doesn't work with this compiler) According to all of the rules for use of C, this file should work just like the text says. Compiling it and running it with the other compilers resulted in the following; C C 0 89AB AB 89 134A 4A 13 9CE9 E9 9C 2688 88 26 B027 27 B0 39C6 C6 39 C365 65 C3 4D04 4 4D Note; All files in Chapter 14 compile correctly with this compiler. To link the Visual Calculator use; link cs+vc+data+file+video,vc,,lcms+lcs; ************** Lattice C compiler - version 3.00 ******************** Note; The following suggested setup only uses the small memory and program model which is sufficient for nearly all of your programming needs. It is suggested that you simply use this configuration and as you gain experience with C, add some of the other features. (suggested floppy disk setup) Contents of Drive A COMMAND.COM CCL.BAT (as listed below) EDIT.COM (your editor, whatever you use) STDIO.H (From the Lattice disks) DOS.H (From the Lattice disks) CTYPE.H (From the Lattice disks) *.C (the files you wish to compile) CS.OBJ (From the Lattice disks) Contents of Drive B LC1.EXE (From the Lattice disks) LC2.EXE (From the Lattice disks) LINK.EXE (must be IBM version 2.1 or later) LCMS.LIB (From the Lattice disks) LCS.LIB (From the Lattice disks) (suggested hard disk setup) Put all above files in one directory, and remove the references to drive B in the batch file below. (start of batch file CCL.BAT) REM C COMPILER, LATTICE VERSION 3.00 IF EXIST %1 GOTO EXTERR REM THE NEXT LINE CALLS WHATEVER SCREEN EDITOR YOU USE EDIT %1.C B:LC1 %1 IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO P2ABT B:LC2 %1 IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO WAIT REM THIS IS THE C LINKER B:LINK CS+%1,%1,NUL,B:LCMS+B:LCS; IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO LKERFND REM THE NEXT LINE IS THE EXECUTION CALL %1 PAUSE ERASE %1.EXE ERASE %1.OBJ ERASE %1.BAK GOTO DONE :EXTERR REM YOU PROBABLY INCLUDED THE .C EXTENTION, DO NOT INCLUDE IT REM IT WILL CAUSE THE LINKER STEP TO FAIL PAUSE GOTO DONE :LKERFND REM LINK ERROR(S) FOUND PAUSE GOTO DONE :P2ABT REM PASS 2 ABORTED DUE TO PASS 1 ERRORS PAUSE GOTO DONE :WAIT REM PASS 2 ERROR(S) FOUND PAUSE :DONE ( end of batch file used ) The following problems were found when using the Lattice C compiler (version 3.00) on the files included on this disk. Chapter 5 - FLOATSQ.C Warning 85: function return value mismatch This appears to be a bug in the compiler but it doesn't affect the operation of the program. Chapter 11 - NESTED.C Add the following line as the first line of the program to increase the internal stack size. int _stack = 4000; Chapter 11 - UNION1.C The bytes have ff in high order bits if the MSB of the byte is on. Refer to text about this. Chapter 13 - BITOPS.C The bytes have ff in high order bits if the MSB of the byte is on. ******************** Microsoft Version 3.00 ************************* (recommended setup) Exactly as listed in the manual - The documentation for this compiler is very clear, and if you follow the instructions as given by Micro- soft, you will have no problem configuring your system. (start of batch file used ) IF EXIST %1 GOTO NOEXT EDIT %1.C MSC %1; IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO ERROR LINK %1; IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO ERROR %1 PAUSE ERASE %1.EXE ERASE %1.OBJ ERASE %1.BAK GOTO DONE :NOEXT REM DO NOT INCLUDE THE .C EXTENSION PAUSE GOTO DONE :ERROR REM COMPILE OR LINK ERROR FOUND PAUSE :DONE ( end of batch file ) Note; The above batch file assumes a hard disk is being used. The Microsoft compiler is extremely capable but because of that, it is also very large and would be very diffi- cult to use without a hard disk. I would not recommend that you try to use this compiler unless you have a hard disk. It is possible to use with a floppy based system, but there would be much disk swapping leading to much frustation. Required changes for use with Microsoft C ver 3.0 Chapter 5 - BACKWARD.C This compiler uses more than 8 characters of the variable name. Change both calls to the function to read the same, forward_and_backward (lines 8 and 19). Chapter 10 - READTEXT.C Apparently the system clears the buffer before reading into it, so it only outputs an extra blank line instead of the word "lines." as described in the text. Chapter 11 - READGOOD.C Notice that the extra blank line is not displayed here. Chapter 11 - NESTED.C *** STACK OVERFLOW *** This message occurs during running of the program due to a lack of stack space because nearly every C compiler defaults to a stack size of 2048 bytes. To fix it, change the LINK call to LINK %1 /STACK:4000; for this program only. Chapter 11 UNION1.C The bytes have ff in high order bits if the MSB of the byte is on. Refer to text about this. Chapter 13 UPLOW.C Change function name to mix_up_the_chars Chapter 13 BITOPS.C The bytes have ff in high order bits if the MSB of the byte is on. Chapter 14 LIST.C & LISTF.C Removing all references to the print file pointer "print_file_point" and using the standard predefined pointer "stdprn" for all print operations causes immediate print rather than bufferred print. The LIST.EXE on the distribution disk uses the standard pointer. The method of printing in the files is used by most C compilers, but the standard method may be a part of the upcoming ANSI standard. Chapter 14 VC.C, FILE.C, DATA.C, VIDEO.C, and STRUCT.DEF Remove all references to "prtfile" and use "stdprn" in lines 123 and 135 of VC.C and in line 170 of FILE.C to cause immediate printing instead of delayed buffered printing. The VC.EXE on the distribution disk was done this way and was compiled with the MS 3.00 C compiler. You can use the files as is if you don't mind the funny printing method. Note; To link VC.EXE use link vc+data+file+video; ************** MIX C compiler - version 1.0.0 *********************** (suggested floppy disk setup) Contents of Drive A COMMAND.COM CCL.BAT (as listed below) EDIT.COM (your editor, whatever you use) STDIO.H (copied from STDIO on dist diskette) RUNTIME.OVY (from your distribution diskette) SMALLCOM.OVY (from your distribution diskette) CLIB.MIX (from your distribution diskette) *.C (the files you wish to compile) Contents of Drive B Exact copy of your MIX distribution diskette (start of batch file used CCL.BAT) REM MIX C COMPILER REM THE NEXT LINE CALLS WHATEVER FULL SCREEN EDITOR YOU USE EDIT %1.C B:CC %1 B:LINKER %1 %1 ( end of batch file used ) Note; The following problems were noted when compiling the files in chapters 1 to 13 with this compiler. The files in chapter 14 were not compiled with this compiler. Chapter 9 - SINGLEIO.C The system supplies a Linefeed for you so it doesn't quite work like the book says. Chapter 9 - BETTERIN.C The system supplies a linefeed for you so it doesn't quite work like the book says. Chapter 13 - CHARCLAS.C Remove #include "ctype.h" from program. Chapter 13 - UPLOW.C Remove #include "ctype.h" from program.