portability

[Geoff Rimmer]

In article <YXnd7fy00UkaI3Om9C at andrew.cmu.edu> bader+ at andrew.cmu.edu (Miles Bader) writes:
>evil at arcturus.UUCP (Wade Guthrie) writes:
>> In article <1354 at tank.uchicago.edu>, goer at sophist.uucp (Richard Goerwitz) writes:
>> > QUESTION: What compiler for use under MS-DOS is the most portable?
>> I have had a lot of luck with Microsoft C (not Quick-C, for which I can
>> say nothing as I have not tried it).  It seems to be one of the richest
>> versions of the language I have seen and it makes small, fast code.  You
>> can certainly utilize its capabilities to write (expansive) code that
>> is portable.
>
>Assuming, of course, that you don't use one of the 437,889 microsoft
>extensions to the language...
>

Awww come on!  The main extensions they have provided are not
essential to programming in C - a lot of the extensions are things
like new keywords like

	pascal, fortran, cdecl, far, near, huge.

The first 3 are only useful if you're linking your C object files with
Pascal (hmph), BASIC (uggh!), or FORTRAN (agghh); and I have never
used the last 3 - I can easily get by without them - I just compile
using a different memory model.

Other extensions to the language are concerned with things like
allowing ',' instead of ',...' for variable argument functions, and so
on.

On the question of Quick C as mentioned by Richard Goerwitz above,
I've found it a VERY useful piece of software.  It's not just a
compiler, but a good editor as well - in fact you now get Quick C free
with Microsoft C 5.1 

BTW, can anyone tell me if the keyword 'volatile' is part of the ANSI
standard?  (I mean is it true to say that all ANSI C compilers must
have the keyword volatile WORKING (i.e. semantically as well as
syntactically)?)

	------------------------------------------------------------
	Geoff Rimmer, Computer Science, Warwick University, England.
			geoff at uk.ac.warwick.emerald

	"If there's one thing I hate in British showbusiness MORE than
	you, it's that bunch of people who made one half-funny gag at
	Live at the Palladium and have made a fortune doing game shows
	ever since.  'Oh and your name is Cynthia and you'd like me to
	patronise and humiliate you on the offchance of winning a
	teasmade.'  Cheeky chappies?  More like complete and utter
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		- Filthy Rich and Catflap, 1986.
	------------------------------------------------------------