Jory, Put This Man To Work. I nominate him as my replacement! Mark Thomas McGahee wrote: > > Dr. Imre, > Wow! This looks like just the language I need to do my PIC projects > in. It is so wonderfully arcane. I am wondering, though, if this > INTERCAL language is Y2K compliant. I notice that in the example > given the values of the subroutine identifiers only go from > (1900) to (1904). Have you ever tried a value such as (2000)? > > As to using HiTech C, I visited their website, and could not > find any free C compiler there. I cannot understand why they > do not offer their product for free. You would think that they > would realize that giving it away for free would be a great > selling point. Money hungry capitalists... > > I was also dismayed when I looked at some examples of C code > provided by HiTech. I couldn't immediately understand it. This > tells me that this product has a learning curve. I do not want > a product that has a learning curve. Is there any version of > the C language out there that is totally free, completely > documented, has a complete library of all the routines I will > ever need, and which has a zero learning curve? If I could > find a product that met all these criteria, I would buy it > immediately, no questions asked. Assuming, of course, that the > company also provides lifetime free updates and a toll-free > help desk that is accessible 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. > The help staff would have to be large, so that I would never > have to be placed on hold, because, after all, my time is > precious. The help staff would have to be extremely intelligent > professionals who know not only their own product, but who are > able to give me free consulting advice also on my hardware > designs. Just because a product is free doesn't mean that > the developers of that product have any right to foist upon > us users a product that is in any way deficient. It is > disgusting how some software purveyers expect us users > to provide free Beta testing for their products. I think > that they should pay us money for each bug we find in their > product. > > I hope that the companies that produce the over-priced > not-for-free compilers will read this post and at last come to > their senses. > > I do not have the time to research all these C compilers on my > own. If there is anyone on the PIC list that has already > done an exhaustive compilation of the relative merits of all > the existing C compilers, send me a copy immediately. > > Fr. Tom McGahee > > -----Original Message----- > From: Dr. Imre Bartfai > To: PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU > Date: Thursday, December 23, 1999 2:12 AM > Subject: Re: Help Wanted: PIC Based Christmas Tree Ornament > > >Hi, > > > >I must disagree due to intended languages as COBOL or FORTRAN. They are > >absolutely inappropriate for that project. I would suggest INTERCAL, as a > >superior language for that choice. As illustration, I insert here a small > >random number generator taken from the Intercal distribution package. > > > > DO (1900) NEXT > > DO READ OUT .1 > > PLEASE GIVE UP > >(1900) DO STASH .2 + .3 > > DO .3 <- #65535 > > DO (1903) NEXT > >(1903) PLEASE FORGET #1 > > DO .2 <- #0 > > PLEASE %50 IGNORE .2 > > DO .2 <- #1 > > PLEASE REMEMBER .2 > > DO .1 <- !1$.2'~"#65535$#1" > > DO .3 <- .3~#65534 > > DO (1902) NEXT > > DO (1903) NEXT > >(1902) DO (1904) NEXT > > DO RETRIEVE .2 + .3 > > DO FORGET #1 > > PLEASE RESUME #1 > >(1904) PLEASE RESUME '?"!3~.3'~#1"$#1'~#3 > > > >As one can see, it gives the most clearest structure and such way due to > >the very short project deadline this is the once tool you can use. > > > >And a remark: there is no Intercal compiler for PIC, though. But it is > >absolutely no problem, as Intercal produces C output and the compilation > >can be done by the (almost) free compiler of HiTech or whatever you > >choose. > > > >Regards and merry Xmas: > > > >Imre > > -- I re-ship for small US & overseas businesses, world-wide. (For private individuals at cost; ask.)