CompuServe Thread

Well, first of all, DICE has never been PD. The shareware versions are FD, Freely Distributable and, I think I mentioned it here, Matt is only going to release one more shareware update. After that, new versions will only be registered, or, assuming Matt finds a publisher/distributor, commercial. And Matt has said that when the commercial version appears, registered user will receive a discount equal to their registration fee. After buying my system I didn't have the extra $200 to buy Manx or Lattice, so I bought the Developer's Kit & downloaded PDC & SozoC. A few weeks of trying to work in that environment remined me that TANSTAAFL. Sozo was faster and produced smaller executables but choked on a lot of things. PDC was a bit more robust but slow and it produced huge executables. In both cases the really infuriating problem was the documentation. The LACK of it, I should say. I found it impossible to debug a program: was it my code or was the compiler misunderstanding my code? Why didn't the error messages tell me what the problem was? Oh, I see, PDC doesn't do structure assignments. Oh, I see, I have to cast that pointer to pass it to a function. Arggh! Ect. Etc. Etc. The week I started pricing Lattice was the week that Matt released DICE. So I gave it a try based on Matt's reputation. Gee, look at that, an error message that's understandable. Look, a WARNING, that's right, I didn't prototye that function properly. Gosh, this thing runs fast. Hmm, that executable IS tiny! Did I do something wrong? No, it works. Golly, I didn't spend three days tracking down a bug in the compiler! Why, look, source to the libraries! 🙂 OK, the shareware version of DICE is skimpy on documentation, but the registered version is not. Online docs available through DME's autorefs. The registered version also has a lot of features missing from the shareware version. Matt fixes bugs pretty darn fast, He's already fixed a few arcane ones that I sent him in a day or two. I'm not an official beta tester, but I do send him [ MORE ]

[ continuation ] "reports" on compiler problems & ambiguities in the docs through BIX. I can't speak for him, but I believe he's going in the right direction with DICE. I'm a satisfied customer. I know that he's been talking to a publisher, but he hasn't announced who or when the commercial version will be available. As far as DICE turning into a $139 compiler, IMHO it won't compete at that price. There are a lot of nice programs in PD, but some things are going to cost you money one way or another. A compiler is an important tool, if I can save 5 hours a week by using the "expensive" commercial product then that's 250 hours a year, how much is 250 hours worth to you? $1? $100? $1000? How do you pay for that time, in lost wages or $139? I dont mind paying for the software, my time is more valuable. When working your way up the learning curve, you dont need the hassle of fighting the compiler each step of the way. DICE has saved me a lot of hassle and time, I'd rather spend it writing programs & learning the Amiga. And as I've said, I scratched my copies of PDC & SozoC and cancelled my plans to buy Lattice…. but everyone has to make their own decisions. If you've got specific question about DICE, I'll give `em a shot, but I'm still an intermediate level C & Amiga programmer. Any critical questions about DICE I can pass on to Matt, but can't operate as his representative.