Programming languages

Here's a question - in the last 3-4 years a lot of
assemblers for Speccy have appeared. But what about other languages? I'm
specifically interested in C for Speccy - has anyone written a new compiler or
maybe someone has tinkered with Hisoft-C. And in general, what is the situation with
programming languages ​​on the Spectrum?

With respect
Andreas

17 Feb 00 00:50, Andreas Kaiser wrote to All:

AK> Here is a question - in the last 3-4 years a lot of assemblers for the Speccy have appeared. But what about other
AK> languages? I'm specifically interested in C for Speccy - has anyone written
AK> a new compiler or maybe someone has tinkered with Hisoft-C. And in general, how
AK> are things going with programming languages ​​on the Spectrum?

THINGS ARE VERY BAD! We have not done anything and will not do anything.
There was a plan to write C-WARP for the coolest window system, but the project was not
completed. The compiler there contains many errors, generates
terribly suboptimal code and is severely limited by TR-DOS.
Hisoft-C is an even more wretched thing. There are good compilers for CP/M,
but not every Spectrum can run CP/M.

... no day without speccy!

17 Feb 00 00:50, Andreas Kaiser -> All:

AK> Here is a question - in the last 3-4 years a lot of
AK> assemblers for Speccy have appeared. But what about other languages? I'm
AK> specifically interested in C for Speccy - has anyone written a new compiler
AK> or maybe someone has tinkered with Hisoft-C. And in general, what is the situation with
AK> programming languages ​​on the Spectrum?

Bad. Yes, and there is no need for this. Everything except ASMA on the spec will slow down and, as such, will be very ineffective. ASM - RULEZZZ forever.

Goodbye, Andreas.

18 Feb 00 19:21, Slava Grigorjew wrote to Andreas Kaiser:

AK>> languages? I'm specifically interested in C for Speccy - has anyone
AK>> written a new compiler or maybe someone has tinkered with Hisoft-C. And
AK>> in general, what is the situation with programming languages ​​on the Spectrum?

SG> Bad. Yes, and there is no need for this. Everything except ASMA on the spec will slow down and,
SG> as such, will be very ineffective. ASM - RULEZZZ forever.

ASM rulez is doubtful. Not all sections of the program code require high
speeds,
and critical sections can always be rewritten in ASMA, which is what is done on all computers
all over the world. If you write everything in ASMA, then it turns out to be
significantly
more complicated, it will take several times longer, there will be many errors and it will be
difficult
to debug. Finally, C also includes libraries that are included in the package.

High Level Language programs have one very serious drawback and it
not
speed, it’s their size :-(

By the way, for the PC I finally hacked Hi-Tech C, cool compiler :-)
And got [+] for it :-(

19 Feb 00 01:18, Andreas Kaiser wrote to All:

AK> SR/M - home. There is nothing else to do.

I do not suggest you use it. And why don’t you treat him like that,
you don’t spit on MS-DOS...

AK> But who wrote this C-WARP and what kind of project was it anyway?

C-WARP is a C compiler (+ single-pass assembler + linker)
for TR-DOS. It has its own multi-window shell editor.
The interface is simply excellent. But the compiler itself is not very good...

AK> Are there sources somewhere or how can I contact the authors?

Author Andrey Demidov: 2:5033/4....@fidonet.org

He wrote this in 1995 and only in 1999 did it reach the people.
Did you write it as a graduation project? It’s not clear here, but in any case
I abandoned it.

AK> Why with such confidence that it won’t be done?

It won’t be by the author himself. He wrote in the echo with a proposal to share
the source code. The source codes were distributed to several people. Now a little
is being improved a little and glitches are being fixed.

But as I wrote, the compiler is not very good. It is certainly better than
HiSoft-C, it optimizes the code a little, but it still turns out clumsily.
You spit on CP/M, but the compilers there really compile and
really optimize later. Well, there are doubts about the amount of memory in
C-WARP; it probably won’t be a big projectcompile, but
again under CP/M it is possible.

If you are interested in the fate of this compiler, then ask Kirill Smelkov,
I don’t remember his E-Mail. Maybe he’s reading the echo, I’ll ask him on the phone...

In general, now most of the spektrumists are both pisishniks
and AmiZhniki at the same time. But there are a lot of C cross-compilers for these
platforms.

SG>> and, as such, will be very ineffective. ASM - RULEZZZ
SG>> forever.

KF> ASM is dubious. Not all sections of the program code require
KF> high speeds, and critical sections can always be rewritten in
KF> asma, which is what is done on all computers all over the world. If you write
KF> everything in ASMA, then it turns out to be much more complicated, it will take several
KF> times longer, there will be many errors and it will be difficult to debug.
KF> Finally, there are also libraries that are included in the kit.

Hy... as if I were talking about Spectrum. PC is a completely different story.

Goodbye, Kirill.

AK> In what sense is the interface great? The windows are beautiful :)

You can open a lot of them, there is a clipboard, the editor is decent... It just slows down.

AK> Thanks for the address. Is there somewhere on the network this C-WARP so that it
AK> can be downloaded?

Well, maybe on the WWW where everything from ZX.SPECTRUM is stored?

AK> Who is finalizing it? How can I contact the developers?

I don’t know who else besides Smelkov wanted these sources, but it wasn’t
just one person.

AK> Well, okay, I don’t give a damn about SR/M, I just don’t really like it. But
AK> SR/M on the Speccy does not exist as such. Therefore, all these compilers, etc.
AK> are practically priceless.

CP/M is available on any machine where you can install RAM and
memory instead of ROM where there is 128kb or more. People just don’t need it.

AK> Which ones? I downloaded a cross-assembler for
AK> Z80, Z180, Z380 from the ZiLOG site (it’s clear why :) ). But I haven’t seen cross-compilers
AK> yet, especially for C.

There are definitely. I cracked hitech-c for Z80/Z180. The full version can still
be uploaded to a hardware emulator via a com port and debugged there. And this
is probably not the only compiler. I don’t know anything about assemblers,
I like the MA80 moash...

AK> Who are they finalizing? How to contact the developers?

What I learned... Smelkov no longer works on C-WARP.
Because C-WARP contains a bunch of errors and it’s easier to rewrite it again.
What is actually being done is trying to write a compiler from scratch.
But this is not earlier than in 4 months - educational program, army...

For now, all that remains is to look to the side CP/M. Yes, and you can launch it
on ~50% of Russian Spectrums, and this is not small.

SG> Hy... as if I were talking about the Spectrum. PC is a completely different story.

What am I talking about? Not about offtopic!