C Interpreters - Any Experiences??? (Smart/C, Bcc)

[Sam Kendall]

> A C interpreter does exist that runs on UNIX* SV_R2 and Berkeley 4.2, together
> with Xenix. For VAX, 3B2/300, 68000 and as well as proprietary architectures.
> It will also run on the PC under MD-DOS.
> 
> The interpreter is called SMART/C. What follows is from the data I have
> about SMARTC/C:

...  And what follows is the entire text of a Smart/C brochure.  This
strikes me as a bit too commercial, even for what is ostensibly a third
party replying to a request for information.

I would like to relate my experience with Smart/C.  (I am the project
head for a competing product, The Bcc Compiler -- a checkout compiler,
not an interpreter.)  I saw a demo of Smart/C at the April UNIX Systems
Expo in San Franciso, and it was, in brief, a very slick toy.  The
syntax-directed editor either didn't handle preprocessor macros at all,
or didn't handle macros such as ``#define forever for(;;)'' that do not
expand to subexpressions.  (The salesman had been given a line to handle
complaints about this: he said, "you know, the preprocessor isn't part
of the language." Wrong.)  Printf and scanf were not handled.  Libraries
other than stdio were not handled.  A test program which accessed
storage beyond the end of an array crashed the interpreter.

In the product's favor, it has an impressive user interface.  But in the
state I saw it, it won't run the average 10-line C program.  Before it
can be a real product, it will have to run the average 10,000-line C
program.  And that is quite a gap.  *Most* of our product's development
cycle was spent between these two stages.  (And, yes, our product is
ready and available now.)

I am interested to hear, by mail or news, from anyone who has used a C
interpreter under UNIX that runs a program of reasonable size and
complexity.

------
Sam Kendall		UUCP:	{allegra,cmcl2,ihnp4}!delftcc!sam
Delft Consulting Corp.	ARPA:	delftcc!sam at NYU-CMCL2.ARPA
Phone: (212) 243-8700	USMail:	432 Park Av S, New York, NY 10016

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