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Oh my, I think the era of runtime performance has already ended
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Yeah. Few more years and we're extinct.
Nuclear launch detected
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When I compile code, I look for the code to be as bug-free as possible, so I want to compile using as many different compilers as I can get my hands onto. Each compiler has its own strengths and weaknesses for error and warning detection, so I look to get clean code from whatever compiler I can use. I had some code from the mid-90s which was originally coded on Sun OS using K&R non-ANSI compiler, then had (mostly) replaced Standard C routine calls with ANSI-compliant ones. Even so, the differences between various compilers (gcc, bcc32, lcc) as well as differences over time are elements which I wanted to minimize the various differences. (At work, we no longer use C, but typically use perl for reformatting data, etc.)
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-1- Control over code generation and memory layout (esp. important on embedded systems)
-2- CORRECTNESS (not always a given, esp. on embedded systems). BTW, I've gotten burned quite a few times by embedded-compiler bugs; I once also got burned a few years ago (around 2000) by a slight bug in Turbo C 2.0 (circa 1988): IIRC, printf("%1.1f", 999.96); would print out "000.0" since the printf routine determined the number of digits to print before it did the rounding.
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I create third party apps for Autocad, so I have to use what they tell me, since my dlls run in their memory space.
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What the partners use
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I had to get Absoft for the Fortran because it's what our partners use. As Fortran compilers go it's not that bad. At least it has try at providing a development environment.
It has to be approved by a committee
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Yeah, writing real-time embedded safety critical stuff can be a bit boring. People are always telling me how to do my job.
For Ada I got Aonix despite its nasty memory leak problems. I wanted the GNU but because we can't use freeware we would have had to pay 10 times as much as the Aonix costs, and as my project leader says, he's not paying that for something I use 5 times a year.
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aonix used to be a good company when their emphasis was on Ada.
now they are on a java kick.
the aonix people have been trying to sell the notion of real-time java, but i doubt anyone is buying the concept.
if their ada compiler has memory leaks; they should probably drop the real-time java idea and fix their compiler.
ada is a wonderful language. it still as relevance today. it's a shame it was marketed as a DoD language - i think that was its only demise.
David
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Dear me yes, I used to do full-time Ada once (I forget the compiler, but on DEC workstations). Lovely language. I would love to do nothing else but Ada.
But it is indeed very much alive in space and defence.
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someone once told me ada was the death of a software engineer's career. i tend to disagree and agree with that statement.
i think ada coding is great... in fact coding in any language is great, as long as you don't get stuck doing that long term, i.e. for too long.
i worked on some radar code with some folks who knew the language but to me appeared pretty mediocre as software engineers. in fact, some of them never wrote any C, C++, Java, python, or anything else for that matter -- and didn't seem very interested in learning anything at all really. it was kind of sad, because we were working on a VAX, the year was 2004, and after a year I just quit to work on another project in the same company.
we were using vax computers from the 80's that were kept in service by buying stuff off e-bay. the target motherboard and other processors were very old and no longer being manufactured. the end product was a very sophisticated system that was not even yet in full-production. there was not even a technology plan to upgrade any of this stuff. the program is still being funded but i don't think there will be anymore future purchases.
in the future the companies involved will make billions on upgrades for poor technology management.
David
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Yay! Another programmer stuck with fortran that isn't me!
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I am so ashamed. I can't tell even my closest friends. Is there a support group, Fortran anonymous?
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Mono? 
Marc
Will work for food.
Interacx
I'm not overthinking the problem, I just felt like I needed a small, unimportant, uninteresting rant! - Martin Hart Turner
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Notepad is not a compiler. You would still need to use either Microsoft's or Mono compilers to get .NET executables.
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Since when is Notepad a compiler?
Marc
Will work for food.
Interacx
I'm not overthinking the problem, I just felt like I needed a small, unimportant, uninteresting rant! - Martin Hart Turner
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If your Windows computer is on the fritz, why not dispose of it, or run Linux on it, and transfer the licences to your current Linux machine?
Oh, and there is no Linux in OS Xm it's BSD, but it's an easy mistake to make.
Regards,
-B
"[F]reedom isn't a licence, it's responsibility." [David Gerrold, Author's Note in "The Man Who Folded Himself", 2003, p. 119]
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Im in exactly the same boat. My windows machine isn't on the fritz, but it's running the RC of Win7, and after I've been dual-booting into Ubuntu for 6 months, I'm finally at the point where I don't think I'll be paying 200$ for Win7 home premium when it comes out.
I've been steadily reducing the list of things I couldn't do on Ubuntu - things I would have to dual-boot into Win7 for - and now that list is practically gone, except for one thing: XNA
Im working on several small XNA projects and I use VS Express in Win7. I have to admit, it is the best of best of IDEs. For a free tool it's absolutely enjoyable to write code in. Now Mono has come a long way, and the 2.0 of the MonoDevelop IDE is actually really good, but I don't see them translating the XNA libraries to Mono any time soon. Especially since they're basically just wrappers for DirectX, which, apart from Wine, we're now really supposed to be using on Linux anyway.
So for me to totally abandon windows, that's my last requirement. They would somehow have to write a set of .NET libraries that compiled to XBOX's .NET compact framework, AND could be tested on the linux machine, AND release tools to allow you to deploy it to the XBOX over the LAN. That last one there almost certainly violates the terms of the XNA dev license, and even I can't blame MS$ for that.
Now here's a question, have you tried VirtualBox? It's a free VMWare 'player' you can get on Ubuntu, and it will 'play' a WinXP image. I've booted it and it does run just like WinXP(in a window inside GNOME), but I can't get the 3D acceleration to work. I actually downloaded VS 2008 Expr, and XNA 3.1 inside the virtual machine, but when I run the code it tells me there's no Direct3D hardware available.
If someone got that working, that would be awesome. 
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ely_bob wrote: $300
Or you could get XP (that might be less than official, but it will work and it will not be $300)
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--- Yeah I could get it for ~89(1 License) ....
However, The Game I'm designing is way to big for just me, I am employing (enlisting) a couple of convicts who are assisting me in the content creation process...  this poses some interesting issues... 
First and foremost they cannot have admin or internet access meaning not only can the computer not allow them to have access to the internet it shouldn't even allow someone skilled to access the internet (should they want to)...
On top of that as I've mentioned before this is a XNA project(C#) and as such doesn't really compile to the Unix. So My best option would have been to get something like Damn lite linux, scrub anything resembeling networking and proceed from there with a limited user profile.. but obviously I can't do that.. so I am rebuilding some computers ...from various spare parts(and new hard drives) so that the computers fave no telephony capabilities, can be locked down, and have no "unacceptable" files on them...
My best option is really find a new crew...
But I've been looking... and these guys have a lot of free time on their hands that they are willing to donate to the project... if it means that they get an avenue to play things like colonization, civilization, diablo, starcraft etc.
So yeah, I really need my head examined. 
sorry just venting.
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Convicts? Seriously? Isn't that just a whole lot of extra trouble?
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Not for the reasons you would think...
Yes they can't use internet.. o.k. We live in the sticks, and internet is $80 a month(Really).
But they are not programmers so I just make a game editor, AI editor and they build the levels play test and hand me the issues I fix, redistribute and they keep going.. (my turn around time on their issues is usually less then 24 hrs.)
--Bonuses-- they are never drunk, hung over or drugged (they are not allowed to! else Slammer)
--Bonuses-- They are some of the more highly educated people around this area technically (prison education system)also like before I'm in the Boonies.
--Bonuses-- They play lots of games, and as such know what should and shouldn't be in the game for play action etc.
so really aside from the internet thing.. hard workers and more reliable then your average HICK. (their PO doesn't care if they have a home computer as long as there is no way for them to access the internet. and there will be spot checks to make sure that they don't)--- which oddly enough, helps them feel more like a normal member of society (after all they have served their time).
So I would say all in all a good experience so far... but I am not most people and this whole thing doesn't strike me as odd or 'out of pocket' as my ex from Gary, IN would say....
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ely_bob wrote: I think that Microsoft's strategy of not supporting other platforms with their development software (because .NET IS A fairly strong resource)is just adding to their "EVIL" perception...
Are you saying you think MS should create and sell a Visual Studio for the Mac or Linux, or somehow "break-out" their compilers which are integrated with and are symbiotic with all the underlying Windows infrastructure ?
ely_bob wrote: One of the most compedative ways to make your product the best is to allow(encourage) people on other platforms to use it..
I'm wondering what an example of that would be.
ely_bob wrote: this was a strategy that worked very well for apple with PhotoShop... I know a number of people who were "PC's" that became "Macs" specifically because of this software/hardware combination.. made possible because photoshop put out a PC version...
You are kidding, I hope. PhotoShop was created outside Adobe, shopped around to several vendors, before Adobe finally bought it; it was a Mac native app from the beginning[^].
Of course Adobe then developed it for the PC. I was working at Adobe when it was being developed for the PC, and since the Mac version was based on MacApp, they actually developed a simulated MacApp for the PC just to port PhotoShop ! In contrast, Adobe Illustrator was developed "in house" for the Mac, and later proted to Windows.
Of course that was many years ago, and I think it would be entirely correct to say that, thanks to the contributions of programming geniuses like Mark Hamburg (who was given the Gordon Moore award for his achievements), PhotoShop is today truly an Adobe product, although the contributions of the creator, Thomas Knoll, remain remarkable.
ely_bob wrote: the proper course of action is to embrace it (like Mac has(meaning the linux in Apple OSX I think))...
The Mac remains the most closed platform on earth, hardware, and software. And if you look at how they manage iPhone software development you will see exactly how they'd like to manage all development.
<blockquote class="FQ"><div class="FQA">ely_bob wrote:</div>Drug dealers do it.. and look how much money they can make...</blockquote>
The above comment makes me truly wonder what "state" you might be in.
best, Bill
"Many : not conversant with mathematical studies, imagine that because it [the Analytical Engine] is to give results in numerical notation, its processes must consequently be arithmetical, numerical, rather than algebraical and analytical. This is an error. The engine can arrange and combine numerical quantities as if they were letters or any other general symbols; and it fact it might bring out its results in algebraical notation, were provisions made accordingly." Ada, Countess Lovelace, 1844
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One sec.. I need my Medicine... ohh Medicine and a pink pill... o.k. now I'm ready. 
What I was trying to say is that at the core of the OS issue it all boils down to preference(for the majority of users one OS is just as good as another for a personal system) so how do you :
convert mac->PC : Current strategy(not working) make pc feel more like mac, offer similar accessories.
convert PC->mac : Harp on stability, and show off my new accessories(working.. I feel)
convert pc->Unix.. see PC->mac(option 1), mention price, throw in open office.
convert mac->Unix.. what's the point. (BSD Previous post this thread)
as for
BillWoodruff wrote: Are you saying you think MS should create and sell a Visual Studio for the Mac or Linux, or somehow "break-out" their compilers which are integrated with and are symbiotic with all the underlying Windows infrastructure ?
Yes. 
BillWoodruff wrote: I'm wondering what an example of that would be.
ely_bob wrote:
this was a strategy that worked very well for apple with PhotoShop... I know a number of people who were "PC's" that became "Macs" specifically because of this software/hardware combination.. made possible because photoshop put out a PC version...
You are kidding, I hope. PhotoShop was created outside Adobe, shopped around to several vendors, before Adobe finally bought it; it was a Mac native app from the beginning[^].
Like you said.. was MAC app, made a PC version(that was not as good, because of the foreign hardware problems. it just took longer, and If I remember it correctly, the non apple hotkeys felt weird as someone once explained it to me... Not perfect example cus it was an "accident" however if it weren't that would be solid marketing.. right?
so people sampled the photoshop (taste this drug  ) and liked it (nice hugh  ), then heard that it runs better on the new expensive shiny computer  (use this bong here it will taste sooo much better...  ) and voila a mac customer for life.. now we sell the "experience" as a "Lifestyle"... 
Take Blender wonderfull on the linux, problems on the PC(simple ones) if you are running it under pc.. you will hear that there are no(fewer) issues under linux.. might be enough for you to want to switch(also the Blender file management panels are Unix formatted, so the transition isn't quite as drastic).
BillWoodruff wrote: The Mac remains the most closed platform on earth, hardware, and software. And if you look at how they manage iPhone software development you will see exactly how they'd like to manage all development.
Yup I don't like that either. But I refuse to argue the point with you if you have an iPhone, use Mac, or have ever used iTunes. if(you have not){ please read on }else{ GOTO END;}
However it smells of a black hole effect of sorts.. (Heroine?)
try this.. nice hugh.. look at this, shiney.. oh hey this works with that.. you should have both.. now plug your coffee machine into the port there and you can make coffee from you phone.. Wonderful... now to feed yourself you.....
But as anyone who has watched trainspotting or played shadowrun would know.. Drug dealers not only sell the drug, but(at least reputable ones) will also sell you the accessories so you can use their drug... they won't tell you how to make it yourself, or who their supplier is, why should they that would cut them out of the profit.
And look at how well the strategy is working out for them.
Truth be told I don't really care for any of the OS's out there.. they all have problems, mainly based in corporate greed.. the best option is linux.. because of places like CodeProject that bring development to the masses, but until programmers can settle down on some coding/exicution standard for all OS's, you will have these issues. There is no reason other then avarice for someone to make lets say a new C compiler that makes .Sht files and uses that as the executable binaries. Unless they are making a new device and want that devises programming to be proprietary, and we (I mean all those other people)as the devise using addicts that we/they are will buy it and accept it without wondering if we can code for it..
END:
Should this be a rant?
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).. my Linux skills are poor (I feel embarrassed saying that here.. but eh. what can I say I do the C#...) And being a MOSTLY MS person it just feels all wrong.. not to mention the issues I've had (am still having) with MONO... 
.. I SUCK ... 