I'm kinda into OS development and so far I've done everything in asm, but I'm a little tired of doing everything by hand, so I'm looking for a reasonably optimized compiler capable of producing code suitable for real mode. Any suggestions?
I'm kinda into OS development and so far I've done everything in asm, but I'm a little tired of doing everything by hand, so I'm looking for a reasonably optimized compiler capable of producing code suitable for real mode. Any suggestions?
I take it gcc -OX doesn't satisfy your needs?
edit: oh, 16-bit, nevermind
Turbo C/C++ (use the C compiler only, set that option in the IDE).Code:√ 16 bit compiler √ produces good code √ free
Avoid "Turbo C", which was a different product by Borland, and was buggy.
Google "Borland legacy compiler", and enjoy.
I recently switched from Borland 5.5 to Digital Mars, and it works fine for 16 bit DOS apps.
Main Page - Open Watcom
Now that my mind is on track, I heard Watcom is supposed to be the best of the old DOS compilers
Also specify your target chipset as there are many 16-bit rtos C compilers, but most cater to specific micros.
Some people around here complain about people using the "obsolete" Turbo C compiler. I always retort with something like "Yeah, but what are you going to use when you need 16-bit real mode code?"Originally Posted by User Name:
Use Turbo C.
What are you doing? When coding for segmented memory model, you need to choose between tiny/small/large/huge addressing modes.
Code://try //{ if (a) do { f( b); } while(1); else do { f(!b); } while(1); //}
Been using Watcom since they were a paid-for concern. *great* compiler, handled a variety of cross-platform (I did Netware modules and OS/2 code along with Windows stuff back in the day and the debugger was second to none. It DID require one to use their brain on occasion but some days it was the only way to get the job done. I still have v11 or so around here someplace...
Thanks for all the helpful responses. So I guess it's down to Watcom and Borland, so which has a good IDE for looking up defines+params quickly? I'm pretty new to strict C(some experience with C++) so I'll probably be right clicking and finding definitions a lot.
Well, neither one are actually sold any more. You can get Borland's from their museum (Antique Software), I don't know if the OpenWatcom project has anything usable or not honestly.
Quzah.
Hope is the first step on the road to disappointment.
That Watcom looks very capable. I use Turbo C/C++ a good deal,and help for all C keywords and built in functions, are found by either:
pressing the F1 key. If the cursor is over a word, the help will try and find that word, in it's listing, for you.
If no word is under the cursor, then you get the help page, with it's built in search function.
Enter a few letters and you're there.
Every function or keyword in the help section, has an explanation of the subject, and a short example, as well. It's quick.
It uses no windows functions, since it predates it, but includes it's own graphics modes (which may or may not have a good aspect ratio in your Windows set up, and the handy header conio.h to handle things like gotoxy(x,y) on the text window.
