This is an archive of CompuServe forum messages from 1985 to 1995, as saved in transcripts by John Foust.
Search Results (255 messages)
Thank you for the examples. I'll look into the problems and get back to you on them. That wasn't so hard now, was it? 😎 BTW, the reason I ask for examples is that roughly 25%-30% of the reports we get are programmer errors, not problems with our software. When…
When was the last time you contact Manx for tech support? Within the past year and a half we've done a tremendous amount of work in updating our support services, as I've mentioned before. If your opinions are based on times prior to this, then I'd suggest that your information…
Just a gentle suggestion Dave. If you're having problems w/ 5.0a, you might get them resolved quicker if you a) called Manx Tech support, b) uploaded some examples here on CIS, c) called the Manx BBS, d) fax us your problems. Until you try at least one of the three,…
We now provide two versions of SDB in 5.0a. One version for programs which use the 68881 or normal emulation, and another which debugs programs which use FFP.
Yes, mixing K&R-style w/ ANSI prototypes can get you in a _heap_ of trouble, since K&R functions do promotions of chars and floats where as ANSI functions do not.
Could you tell me what I'm looking for when I compile this? Saying it "doesn't work" is kind of vague. Does it crash? Give you a wrong value? Not link? Not compile? Is it printf that's not working? Is it scanf() that's not working?
Conversion of floats to doubles is not highly accurate, due to an apparent problem w/ an Amiga resident library routine. Since most people use doubles, this hasn't affected too much code. In the next release we're using our own routine to do the conversion, and that seems to work OK.
"prototypes don't work with floats" Could you expand upon this? "constants are sometimes coerced to char in the presence of prototypes" this too? It sounds like you may have K&R style functions w/ function prototypes. If this is the case, then you should read page 3-9 in the reference manual…
There aren't any known problems w/ -f8. Could you show a code sample that breaks?
Examples, examples, examples???????????????? The problem w/ setdat is known, and will be fixed in the future. However, just saying "Oh my gawd, nothing works for me, this is an awful release" without giving an hard examples really doesn't help anybody, does it?
Could you show some examples please? If there are problems in this area, I'd like to have them fixed for the next version. But I can't fix 'em w/out examples.
Glad to be of assistance. The compiler's also great as a quick hexdecimal octal converter when you misplace your calculator, although some might consider it slight overkill 😎
If you only need a few constants and have a C compiler, you can simply compile a program w/ the constant you need and look at the resulting assmebly code to get what you need. In Aztec C, you'd simply say 'cc -at progname' (both 3.6a and 5.0a), and the…
#89025-
#Floating Point
Message #89039
Most floating point formats start with a sign bit, and then have bits for the exponent and the mantissa. For single-precision IEEE, there's 8 bits of exponent and 23-bits of mantissa, for double precision there's 11-bits of exponent and 52-bits of mantissa, and for extended precision there's 15-bits of exponent,…
Isn't there an Abacus book on the disk layout? I thought I saw something like that in one of their book-lists for the Amiga. Yeah, I found it: "Amiga Disk Drives: Inside & Out". It claims to talk about MFM, GCR, Track design, SYNC's, interrupts, the trackdisk device, and other…
Agreed. But some people don't have the luxury of having fully ANSI compilers on their machines yet, so they have to suffer with kludges of this type. -Mike
Hey, I thought this was "ASM Programming" 😎 -Mike
The problem is, the minute a company even tentativly says "well, maybe possibly if everything works out we might have it on XXXX but we don't know for sure", everyone will still hold the company to that date, and will be madder if it doesn't come out on that date…
#87520-
Aztec 5.0a is here!
Message #87999
Because there's more to a C program than resident library calls. There's also startup code, functions like strcpy(), and certain Amiga routines that can't be called easily in-line, like BeginIO. -Mike
#87530-
Trade-in Offer Rumor
Message #87997
Oh, then that's not a big deal cost wise. I guess I mis-read the original message. -Mike
The nice thing about #pragmas is that by definition they are implimentation defined. Thus when doing a port, its _very_ obvious to the programmer that the #pragmas aren't going to work on the new machine/comiler. Other methods of doing funky things, like new keywords, aren't nearly as easy to catch,…
#84947-
Mac vs Amiga RWar
Message #85047
It's hard to say _what_ MPW is – its really sort of a mix between a CL I and a GUI. Commands are entered as text, but it's window-oriented. I personally don't like it (you have to hit the enter key on the numeric keypad to enter a command -…
From statements like #pramgas=ILAC, I'd say generally negative. In what way are pragmas dangerous? You have yet to point that out.
As I understand it, Microsoft's #pragmas handle only optimization concerns. The ones we've implimented are more along the lines of what Lattice has done i.e., functional code generation over optimization. Our pragmas for in-line calling of Amiga functions, register parameter passing, and interrupt function definition all provide very useful functions…
So you're saying that all compilers should adhere strictly to ANSI, and be completely non-innovative in every way? That everyone should code for the 2K embedded system with no I/O, just to make sure his code is super-portable. Get with it, Larry. This is the real world, where people are…
#pragma's are ANSI approved ways to do things that aren't in the standard, like specify special function types, direct the code generator, etc. They're very nice, actually, in that they give an easy way to add machine-specific stuff at the source-code level. Alas, intstart() and intend() were not very well…
#84295-
Mac GUI vs Ami GUI
Message #84428
Yes – having a flicker-fixer type of device would be _really_ sharp, if they could keep the cost down (500 bucks seems like alot, to me). The only problem though is that you have to buy a multi-sync type monitor to be able to use a non-interlaced screen. -Mike
Actually, there always was a way in Aztec C. An interrupt routine, or whatever, simply had to call the function intstart() at the beginning of an interrupt function, and intend() at the end, and this would take care of A4 and everything else. In version 5.0, we've simplified it by…
#84217-
Best C?
Message #84237
Ben, there have been programs that I've seen that had two choices: either write the whole routine in assembly, or have 2-lines of ILAC. In those routines, I think the programmers made the right choice in using ILAC, as it got the job done in the best way possible. Of…
Can you be a bit more specific about what you don't like about the Mac GUI? I frankly have found it to be the cleanest, most professional implimentation of a graphical user interface anywhere (oh, no, not an all out GUI war 😎 I think the Amiga's strong points are…
#Mac GUI vs Ami GUI
Message #83824
From a user interface point of view, the Mac is tough to beat. Their GUI design is _very_ clean. If it multitasked, had color in all models, had graphics coprocessors, and cost half of what it does now (all models), then I'd go out and buy one. I think in…
This is true. There is no excuse for a company to be rude and dishonest to its own customers, and any company that does so deserves whatever fate it gets.
#81847-
#Incomprehensibility
Message #81865
Such is the curse of "object-oriented" programming environments. They make the programmers work-load much, much lighter by adding an additional level of abstraction (i.e., objects!) to the problem at hand. This tends to drastically reduce the amount of source code required for an application, and allows the "masses" to write…
The problem is, GOMF can be over-written by a user program! The amiga won't work really well as multi-user 'till it has hardware memory protection built into the OS. -MIke
Is it fixed? I saw a message on Bix from a user who was still having problems with it, even after applying the 5.04 patch. I'd ask Mike Roth to make sure it really fixed it. BTW, I am a Manx employee, so anything I say re: Lattice should probably…
#79519-
Lattice or Manx???
Message #79609
Well, we've finally gotten our problems straightened out w/ our printers, and final testing is going along very smoothly, so I feel very comfortable saying that the release should be available the week of Jan. 15th. It would be earlier, except that Christmas and New Years pushed back the date…
#79378-
Lattice or Manx???
Message #79392
I'm obviously biased, so I won't even attempt to persuade you one way or the other (how 'bout you Manx users lend me a hand?). However, you may wish to delay your decision a bit until Manx 5.0 comes out. The current version 3.6a hasn't been updated in quite a…
Everyone who orders the 5.0 upgrade (or buys it new, for that matter) will get completely re-written documentation. So yes, you can throw your 2.3 million pages of release documents away 😎
#78179-
Manx 5.0 C?
Message #78261
The problem is to write completely compatible code, you have to use ANSI features rigorously, without exception. The problem w/ this is that the user has to constantly keep portability in mind when doing literally EVERYTHING. In addition, various compilers claiming ANSI compatability actually conform to different versions of the…
The default heap manager in c.lib uses AllocMem, NOT the _Heapsize stuff in heapmem.c. Version 5.0 will have a hybrid-system which uses AllocMem but also allows realloc'ing. Sorry if I didn't make that clear 😎 Jim has been doing programming work at Manx all along – he just dropped out…
I am an employee of Manx Software Systems. I do several things at Manx, among them over-seeing the logistic details of the 5.0 beta and release products (Jim Goodnow is the head-programmer for our Amiga projects). 5.0 should be available this month. I can't give an exact time, though, as…
Unfortunately, neither heap manager is adequately documented in v3.6a – in fact, heapmem.o isn't in the manual at all. Version 5.0 will have only one method of heap allocation which will be a combination of the two existing methods. Oh, you're right – I believe heapmem.o does work more like…
The default memory manager is part of c.lib, where as the alternative manager is contained in heapmem.o, as has already been mentioned. The difference between them is that the default manager really isn't a manager – it just calls AllocMem(). In fact, the default manager doesn't even have a realloc()…
The default memory manager DOES release memory upon exit. -Mike
You might consider waiting for Manx 5.0 to come out before deciding to switch. Code generation in 5.0 is very much improved over the 3.6a release, which seems to be the major factor you're interested in. In addition, 5.0 compiles about 25% faster than 3.6a does (that translates into about…
#77107-
legality of mods?
Message #77870
As long as the notice doesn't talk about distributing "unmodified source only" I'd say distributing it (with the notice intact, of course) is OK. -Mike
Actually he hasn't had a problem getting me – I've replied several times. However, Jim Goodnow, who's in charge of our Amiga projects, hasn't returned his calls, which is what's got him upset. I've already left him a message on BIX asking him to drop me his # so I…
Standard upgrade cost has been set at $75. However, actual cost may vary, so you should call upgrades to check on your status. You can get one when we get the doc back from our printer. As soon as this happens, I'll let you know. What you get is a…
#77585-
Manx 5.0 C?
Message #77820
I'm afraid notifying every Manx user on CIS of an update is a little more than I can handle alone 🙂 If you're in doubt as to your update status, I strongly advise you to call our update # at (201)389-0290 for information. -Mike
#76251-
Manx 5.0 C?
Message #76673
5.0 is not yet available, although it will be in about a week. I can't recall exactly, but I think the exact meanings of professional and developer are changin' in 5.0 as far as what you get. I'm also not sure of what the prices are gonna be. Lemme check…
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