Re: Avatar and C

[behrenss@Informatik.TU-Muenchen.DE (Soenke Behrens)]

ltchean@iss.nus.sg (Lim Thye Chean) writes:

>But that does not mean that we don't need a fast, optimized C compiler. That
>might make porting software to Avatar a much easier job.
>The question is: Is it really IMPOSSIBLE to write a fast, optimized C compiler
>for 65816? I hope NOT! Where are all the Apple II wizkids that can solve the
>problem instead of saying "it can't be done"?

It can be done. But it's a lot of effort. Look at gcc or Watcom C/386 and you
know what I mean. You could have a "virtual" stack in memory, leaving the GS
stack only for return addresses, so that the C heap resides somewhere else.
This will result in code that is less limited, but runs slightly slower.

BTW, a good C compiler is preferable over ASM every day, just because it's
cheaper. Development time goes down, and in the end you get software that
_is_ reasonably fast.

>It looks like it is THE computer for me. I don't agree that Avatar will
>definitely fail. I think there is a high chance for it to succeed. It might
>be a computer similar to NeXT, not the mainstream, but many people still 
>buy it.

Hohum. Have you ever had a look at the NeXT? :) Or look at an Archimedes, for
example ... neat machines, not very wide-spread, but _really_ nice. That would
be a computer we // freaks could get accustomed to. (And they even write a
lot of software in ASM, too ;-> ).

Soenke
-- 
===========================================================================
More than silver, more than gold, I need   !    behrenss@informatik.
electricity. I need it for my dreams.      !    tu-muenchen.de
(RACTER)                                   !  FIDO: 2:246/13 Soenke Behrens