Re: Avatar and C

[ltchean@iss.nus.sg (Lim Thye Chean)]

behrenss@Informatik.TU-Muenchen.DE (Soenke Behrens) writes:
: 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.

OK, at least it can be done. And at least we can have a machine without all 
those stupid real mode, virtual mode...
: 
: 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.

I agreed that we need a better compiler. But I put my emphasize on ease of
use. I think a language like C++ is needed. What I don't agree is that we
definitely need a very fast compiler, because hardware just get faster.
What we need is language that will cut down development time.

: 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 ;-> ).

Yes, and I think Avatar can be one of those machine. Not very wide-spread,
but really nice. Well, if Avatar can be half as successful as Amiga, we
can get much more software than what we have on GS today.

: 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

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          Lim Thye Chean: Lim is my surname. My name is Thye Chean.
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