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From: bernie@watarts.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.micro.pc
Subject: Re: C compilers
Message-ID: <2096@watarts.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 7-Feb-84 11:29:41 EST
Article-I.D.: watarts.2096
Posted: Tue Feb  7 11:29:41 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 9-Feb-84 04:07:45 EST
Lines: 23

There is no clear consensus yet on C compilers.  The reviews I've seen
(e.g. Byte's, PC Tech Journal's) tend to agree on the following:
	Lattice (Microsoft or Lifeboat) tends to be the best, though quite
		expensive ($350-$500 depending who you buy it from)
	CI-86 (Computer Innovations) is quite good, but is not as good as
		Lattice.  However, CI-86 is about to release a new, souped-up
		version which claims to beat the pants off the competition.
		Wait and see if their claims hold water.
	DeSmet (C-Ware) is amazingly good, especially since it sells for
		$109.  It's fast and produces tight code.  All its benchmarks
		match or beat both CI-86 and Lattice, an impressive feat.
		This is the compiler I chose (based on reviews) and have no
		complaints about it.  It includes a nice full-screen editor,
		an assembler that's much, much faster than Microsoft's, a
		linker, and a library constructor.  It also includes a hex
		dump utility (with source code in C), Life (again, source
		included), a C prettyprinter (no source) and a simple arcade
		style game called Bugs! (again, no source).
Overall, I give high marks to DeSmet.  People I know and whose judgement
I trust have bought CI-86 and Lattice, and are equally satisfied.  The
bottom line is that it's hard to go too far wrong with any of the above
three.
				--Bernie Roehl