interested in DEC-20 C compiler?

greg at nmtvax.UUCP greg at nmtvax.UUCP
Fri May 25 06:17:32 AEST 1984


New Mexico Tech is about (approximately September) to hatch a
version 7 C compiler for DEC-20s running TOPS-20, and we have
some interest in selling said compiler to other TOPS-20 sites.
Our best guess as to cost is something like 500 dollars for
educational sites (colleges and universities) and 2500 dollars
for non-educational sites (big business).

First, a short description of what we expect to offer:
1)  Not just another hack of the version of the portable C
    compiler which is available on -20s, but a completely
    new implementation.
2)  Output in .REL file format, instead of MACRO-20, which is
    what is produced by all of the other compilers I've seen
    for -20s.
3)  A code generator which goes to some effort to emit code
    which makes full use of the -20 instruction set.
4)  An eyacc parser, as exemplified by the 4.xbsd Pascal
    compiler (not interpreter), with good error reporting and
    recovery.
5)  Support for calling TOPS-20 FORTRAN (thus access to all of
    the floating-point functions).
6)  Decent compilation speed, on the order of 40,000
    lines/minute of cpu time, assuming some average mix of
    preprocessor commands, comments, and real code.
7)  Behavior which is highly compatible with that of the
    VAX/VMS C compiler.

Thus, a question:

How much interest is there in such a compiler?

If you like the idea but not the price, tell me anyway.  To
some limit, we would rather distribute lots of compilers for
less money per each than a few compilers for more each.

Please reply to me personally instead of to the net.

thanks,
greg
-- 

Greg Titus                  ..!ucbvax!unmvax!nmtvax!greg    (uucp)
NM Tech Computer Center     ..!cmcl2!lanl-a!nmtvax!greg     (uucp)
Box W209 C/S                greg.nmt at rand-relay             (arpa)
Socorro, NM 87801           greg at nmt                        (CSnet)
(505) 835-5735
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