From: Narti.Kitiyakara@f1.n396.z1.fidonet.org (Narti Kitiyakara)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.modula2
Subject: Logitech modula-2
Date: 14 Oct 92 19:53:08 GMT
Article-I.D.: puddle.9039.2ADE14DC
Organization: FidoNet node 1:396/1 - The Southern Star, New Orleans LA


 -=> Quoting Greg Vigneault to Narti Kitiyakara <=-

 GV> I'm looking at buying one or more Clarion/JPI compiler, including
 GV> their Modula-2.  I currently use the shareware FST Modula-2.

 GV> Can you share some of the known Logitech Modula-2 bugs/quirks, as
 GV> well as its unique features?

     There are a couple of minor bugs in the compiler that I can
 recall: There's a problem with the set functions that return
 a set value (for example, set union and intersection, but not
 inclusion or the INCL/EXCL operators) when using a large set
 (more than 128 elements).  (I went nearly mad trying to isolate
 this problem as it would crash the system in such a way that
 I'd have to hardware reset.  It gave me great pleasure when
 I was able to reliably crash the tech-support person's computer
 in the same fashion.)  I believe that there's also a problem
 with LONGINT divison, but I've never encountered this myself.
 (I think that it got the sign wrong in certain circumstances,
 but I'd really have to check before I'd make a positive
 statement.)  I don't really think either of these bugs would
 stop me buying the compiler.

     There were also a number of minor bugs in the run-time library.
 For example, one of the DosCalls functions calls the wrong DOS
 function, and there's another module compiled with REALs when
 it needs LONGREAL.  Most of these errors are easily fixed
 given an errata sheet, although I'd hope that Logitech is
 now distributing a corrected version.  (I must admit that
 I've never asked.)

     Unique features of a compiler?  Um, ...  The MultiScope
 compiler is now licensed from Stony Brook, so you can look
 up the code generation equality for yourself.  (It's good
 but I couldn't put it in quantitative terms.)  The debuggers
 (post-mortem and run-time) are quite seductive.  I believe
 their editor provides an integrated environment, but I've
 never used it.  (I always prefer an editor that conforms
 to my idiosyncrasies: namely my own editor.)  The run-time
 library is complete and quite efficient, and there is
 a fairly complete set of tools (linker, make, version
 control, etc.)  At least on BIX, the tech-support people
 have always been helpful and knowledgable.

     In other news, MultiScope has been bought by Symantec.
 At first there was some concern, in the user-support
 conference on BIX, that they would abandon the compiler
 and just keep the debuggers, but Symantec says that they
 will continue to maintain the compiler and even port
 it to other platforms.  The first claim is believeable as
 the debuggers and some of Symantec's other products are
 already written in Modula-2.  We'll just have to wait and
 see on the second claim.

     Summary: I use the MultiScope compiler heavily and
 I don't have anything against it, but I don't have any
 experience with other Modula-2 compilers.

                                        - Narti
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