.I 0 1
+++Date last modified: 24-Nov-1995
.D 1 1
.I 2 2
Q:  Which PC C/C++ compiler is best and what should I buy?

.I 155 11
largely during the period following the Symantec acquisition of Zortech. As
of version 6.1, the bugs were mostly fixed. Support of DOS graphics was also
dropped, but an updated version of the excellent Flash Graphics package
shipped with the Zortech versions is available from FlashTek, which also
supplies improved versions of the 32-bit DOS extender and the pre-Symantec
debugger. The current 7.0 release fixes almost all residual bugs and is
significantly enhanced in the area of portability, supporting features of
other DOS compilers such as the _interrupt keyword.

One caveat - if you have any version prior to the 6.1 release, be sure to
upgrade!
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Drawbacks include almost non-existent 3rd party support and the pervasive IDE
.D 229 1
.I 232 2
GNU C/C++ (GCC, G++; also DJGPP, EMX)
-------------------------------------
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built-in in order to work in DOS's limited memory. The most popular of the
DOS ports is DJGPP. OS/2 ports obviously don't share this limitation. The EMX
port for OS/2 is among the best and is quite popular among OS/2 programmers.
Along with SC++, WC++, and HC++, the gnu compilers round out the list of full
ISO/ANSI/ARM compilers with explicit support for embedded systems.
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Q.  Do have any samples?

A:  The following program was compiled using several DOS compilers with the
    results as noted below. The compilers tested are noted in the executable
    program's name as follows:

      Suffix      Compiler                Notes
      ------      --------                -----
      _b45        Borland C 4.5
      _b31        Borland C 3.1
      _g32        gnu C (DJGPP 1.12M2)          GO32 32-bit DOS extender
      _mc         Dunfield Micro-C 3.13
      _ms         Microsoft C 8.0               Part of Visual C++ 1.5
      _pc         Mix Power C 2.2
      _sc         Symantec C 7.0
      _s32        Symantec C 7.0                DOSX 32-bit DOS extender
      _wc         Watcom C 10.0
      _w32        Watcom C 10.0                 DOS/4GW 32-bit DOS extender
      _zc         Zortech C 3.0r4
      _z32        Zortech C 3.0r4               DOSX 32-bit DOS extender

    All executables were compiled with maximum optimization and with other
    options (e.g. no exception handling for Borland 4.5) to assure minimum
    size of the executables. The results for Zortech and Borland are for
    comarison since both are several revision obsolete (however they do
    highlight the fact that if all you want to do is compile straight C code,
    sometimes the latest isn't always the greatest). The test file was
    selected as an example of a minimally useful standard C program. Some
    coding peculiarities were introduced to accomodate some non-standard
    features of the Micro-C library.

    The program listing is followed by execution and compile times. The
    machine used for the test was a 486/DX50 using Golden Bow's Vcache. Due
    to the presense of the cache and the small size of the program, the
    execution timings are probably only grossly representative. The timings
    for the DJGPP-compiled test includes timings for both the compilation and
    COFF-to-.EXE conversion required to produce a stand-alone executable. The
    compilation time listing for WCL386 is for the Watcom-compiled version
    using the DOS/4GW 32-bit DOS extender.
  
----[ Size.C ]----------------------------------------------------------------

#include <stdio.h>

#ifndef __MICROC__
 #include <string.h>
#endif

main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
      char buf[80], *ptr;
      FILE *me;

      if (NULL == (me = fopen("size.c", "r")))
      {
            fputs("Can't open SIZE.C\n", stderr);
            return -1;
      }
      while (1)
      {
            if (NULL == fgets(buf, 80, me))
                  break;
            for (ptr = buf + strlen(buf) - 1;
                  ptr >= buf && *ptr == '\n'; --ptr)
            {
                  *ptr = '\0';
            }
            printf("%s\n", buf);
      }
      return 0;
}

----[ Dr.Out ]----------------------------------------------------------------

 DR 3.00 
Disk vol "STACVOL_DSK"
Directory of D:\BINK\CODE\WIP
12 Files totalling 192,477 bytes
602,865,664 Bytes free

Size_mc  Com       2,105  ..a.rwx  20 Nov 95   9:59:42  < Micro-C 3.13
Size_zc  Com       8,035  ..a.rwx  20 Nov 95   9:59:00  < ZTC 3.0r4
Size_ms  Com       8,049  ..a.rwx  20 Nov 95  10:09:50  < MSC 8.0
Size_b31 Com       8,776  ..a.rwx  20 Nov 95  10:11:24  < BC++ 3.1
Size_wc  Com       9,318  ..a.rwx  20 Nov 95  10:03:46  < WC 10.0
Size_sc  Com      10,528  ..a.rwx  20 Nov 95  10:04:48  < SC++ 7.0
Size_b45 Com      11,216  ..a.rwx  20 Nov 95  10:07:20  < BC++ 4.5
Size_pc  Exe      13,312  ..a.rwx  20 Nov 95  10:12:40  < Mix Power C 2.2
Size_w32 Exe      25,994  ..a.rwx  20 Nov 95  10:21:44  < WC/DOS 4G/W
Size_z32 Exe      27,941  ..a.rwx  20 Nov 95  10:17:44  < ZTC/DOSX
Size_s32 Exe      29,149  ..a.rwx  20 Nov 95  10:18:42  < SC++/DOSX
Size_g32 Exe      38,054  ..a.rwx  20 Nov 95  10:23:44  < DJGPP 1.12M2

----[ Execution times ]-------------------------------------------------------

SIZE_WC     Elapsed time = 0.116001 Seconds     < WC 10.0
SIZE_MS     Elapsed time = 0.116579 Seconds     < MSC 8.0
SIZE_B31    Elapsed time = 0.121079 Seconds     < BC++ 3.1
SIZE_PC     Elapsed time = 0.127011 Seconds     < Mix Power C 2.2
SIZE_ZC     Elapsed time = 0.218889 Seconds     < ZTC 3.0r4
SIZE_SC     Elapsed time = 0.221269 Seconds     < SC++ 7.0
SIZE_MC     Elapsed time = 0.226919 Seconds     < Micro-C 3.13
SIZE_B45    Elapsed time = 0.232461 Seconds     < BC++ 4.5
SIZE_Z32    Elapsed time = 0.233987 Seconds     < ZTC/DOSX
SIZE_G32    Elapsed time = 0.406291 Seconds     < DJGPP 1.12M2
SIZE_S32    Elapsed time = 0.461156 Seconds     < SC++/DOSX
SIZE_W32    Elapsed time = 1.299404 Seconds     < WC/DOS 4GW

----[ Compile times ]---------------------------------------------------------

PC (Mix Power C) 2.2    1.505081 Seconds
CC (Micro-C) 3.13       1.843561 Seconds
ZTC 3.0r4               1.948132 Seconds
SC 7.0                  3.002091 Seconds
BCC 4.5                 4.108201 Seconds
BCC 3.1                 4.586260 Seconds
WCL 10.0                5.669630 Seconds
WCL386 10.0             6.342555 Seconds
CL (MSC) 8.0            6.697373 Seconds
GCC (djgpp) 1.12M2      8.287935 Seconds

----[ finis ]-----------------------------------------------------------------
