From: sherman@panix.com (Sherman Chan)
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.programmer
Subject: Power C opinions : SUMMARY
Date: 3 Sep 92 02:13:47 GMT
Organization: PANIX Public Access Unix, NYC


Thanks to everybody who responded to my request for information/opinions
on Mix software's Power C compiler.  I have decided to order Power C,
and I sent in my order earlier today.  Everyone seemed to like the
debugger, but opinions on the compiler varied.

-Sherm

Here is my summary of the responses I received:

Scotty Berry
------------
     Mentioned that Power C can function in a very limited environment,
(he ran it on an XT with 640K and one 360K floppy) and that the source
debugger was very good, and he suggested that I buy it as well.

Anders Thulin
-------------
     Did not have a good impression of Power C as a heavy duty development
tool, citing a failure to fully comply with the ANSI C standard.  Anders
said Power C was more like K&R with prototypes shoehorned in, there is
no prototype checking.  He also mentioned a weird proprietary object
code format (.MIX), which could be converted to .OBJ with a supplied
utility, but it did not work well.  Numerous bugs were mentioned, like
rand() not producing random numbers, and other less specific problems.
He suggested purchasing the debugger as well, but warned me that I would
have to live with a few weird things.

David Roland
------------
     Has done exactly what I intend to, run Power C on an Amiga using
a software emulator (in this case, Transformer).  Mentioned that Power C
would be extremely slow, and I may be better off using Matt Dillon's
freeware version of DICE if this is for a class (it is), unless I wanted
MSDOS executables (I do).  He mentioned the book that comes with the
compiler is worth the $20.

Kevin Stock
-----------
     He bought Power C for his old XT, which provides a similar enviroment
to my Amiga's setup, save for a CGA vs. MDA display.  Kevin mentioned
that he took a PD Curses package for MSDOS and compiled it with no problem.
He also took several programs he wrote for the Unix machine at work,
and they compiled with no problem.  He advised against expending too much
effort looking for XT level PD stuff, that it would be either too limited
to serve as much more than a learning tool, or it would be so old that
prototyping would not be supported.

Thomas Dillman (?) [Unsure of last name, the mailer didn't attach his name]
--------------
      Mentioned the lack of third party support, but said the compiler
was pretty good.

Eli Boaz
--------
     Said Power C is decent, but no more.  Suggested using QEdit instead
of the provided one.  Also suggested getting a PD compiler called PCC
if I could find it, because there were lots of third party libraries.
Recommended getting the debugger as well.

Mike Gillmore
-------------
     Has been using Power C for four years, and feels it is worth the
$20.  Suggested purchasing the debugger and library sources as well.
Mentioned the proprietary object code format as a possible Achilles heel.

Jamshid Afshar
--------------
     In his opinion, Power C is the only compiler that still runs well
on an XT, with no hard disk that is worth bothering with.  Offered the
opinion that GNU C is the only really good PD compiler but will only
run on a 386 or better.  Suggested buying Turbo C++ for $60 if I ever
bought a 386 computer, because it offers much more for 40 more dollars
(no specifics given, but I supposed a normal object format is one of them)