Are the criteria for Unix and PC compilers different?

[Henry Spencer]

> How come compilers for the PC keep improving and make last year's
> obsolete while we are totally satisfied with the one on Unix?  The
> Unix ones has not been significantly changed in a long time.

Depends on *which* Unix ones you are talking about.  The System V ones
do get improved, as do those from some Unix-box manufacturers.  If yours
doesn't, complain to your supplier.  (If it's Berkeley, you are out of
luck, because nobody there gets paid to soup up the compiler.  This is
part of the price you pay for university software.)  Outfits like MIPS
work quite hard on compiler improvements.

> ... is it because the PC compilers are only now
> approaching the quality and completeness of the Unix ones?

Well, one can argue about that particular issue, but the real reason is
that the PC compilers are commercial products in a viciously competitive
marketplace.  Many of the Unix compilers have little or no competition.
-- 
Those who do not understand Unix are |  Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
condemned to reinvent it, poorly.    | {allegra,ihnp4,decvax,utai}!utzoo!henry