From: adt AT netcom DOT com (Tony Tribelli)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c++,comp.os.msdos.djgpp,rec.games.programmer
Subject: Re: The numer 1 compiler, DJGPP or MSVC  Here's a good rating comparision
Date: Mon, 08 Sep 1997 00:53:14 -0700
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firewind <firewind AT metroid DOT dyn DOT ml DOT org> wrote:

> ... I have an old 486DX/33 with 8MB of ram ...
>
> Execution Speed: DJGPP-compiled programs are faster.
> Optimization: gcc is a -much- better optimizing compiler than MSVC.

Possibly true with respect to the ancient 16-bit MSVC++ 1.0 that the
original poster mentioned and your 486 system. But if we consider more
recent 32-bit versions, 4.2 and 5.0, targetting Pentium systems, then gcc
falls way behind. It also trails Watcom and Borland with Intel's backend
optimizer.

For DOS targets professionals used to choose Watcom, for Win32 targets they
usually choose Visual C++.

> Language Choice: DJGPP can compile C, C++, Ada, Pascal, AT&T ASM, Fortran,
>                  and possibly even more I don't know about.

gcc is a little flaky with C++, exception handling is the most notorious
example. Also AT&T assembly syntax is a problem, not an advantage.

Tony
------------------
Tony Tribelli
adtribelli AT acm DOT org