You are right. It does default to a.out. Who would of thunk. Weird :)
  Also -o <file name  worked. Thanks Matt

  C is incredibly dumb and picky :)
  The QB IDE was head and shoulders above this nonsense.
  Too bad MS killed it.

  I have Anjuta IDE but so far it crashes when I try to build a file
  or execute it. QB and PB never did/do that silly stuff.

  I get the impression that the C IDE and the C compilers are not
  using the full power of the computer to help the programmer.
  The complier must be told exactly what to do in excruciating detail.
  QB would correct your variable spelling automatically.

  -------------------------------------------------------------

  I think QB was just scratching the surface of what was possible.
  I wanted an automatically generated variable data base.
  All one had to do was comment the variables and labels and
  the background data base would record them for search or sort.

  Of course a 32 bit DOS never materialized so 64K memory was
  the limit for QB. The entire IDE was right at the limit at 64K.
  It compiled to tight and fast code. My moving map program proved
  that. With todays processor and a real time 32 bit DOS
  it would be unbeatable. There is no correlation with
  the speed of execution and the level of the programming
  language. It is all in the compiler. QB and FB are far
  higher level languages than C. Almost plain English.
  C by comparison, is hieroglyphics

  Here is my 30 year collection of programming books.
  Paul Lamar

  The idea of a compiler/interpreter correcting variable spelling sounds
  like it might be very frustrating.  Imagine you have two variables
  that are somewhat similar in name.  You mistype one and the compiler
  corrects it to the other, with no warning.  Is that the kind of thing
  you're talking about Paul?

  Programming is about precision and attention to detail.  One of the
  reasons I am only moderately good at it..  :)

  C will often try to deal with mismatched type by casting.  Usually it
  generates a compiler warning (as you found above).  That's about as
  far as it goes, thankfully.


  Matt-

  Yes sort of. It works better than it sounds. It also has syntax error
  checking and correcting as you type. Much effort and power was put into
  the editor. You need to try it. I can send it to you if your ISP allows
  zip files. It runs in windows under the command line.

  A lot of programmers turned their nose up on it with out trying
  it. They had been brain washed into thinking Pascal was the only answer.
  The Pascal people had a better PR department :)

  Actually the idea of the error correcting and detecting editor idea would
  work with any language including asm which is less hieroglyphic like than
  C.

  C really needs one and I am surprised somebody has not picked up on the
  idea.
  We need to put the power of the computer to work in the programming editor.

  Paul Lamar


 Eclipse performs symbol completion as you type- as you start typing a
 variable name, it 'fills in' the closest matching remainder. You can either
 hit 'enter' to accept, or continue typing to narrow the list of matches. Big
 time-saver.

 XEmacs does something similar, and isn't as 'heavy' as Eclipse (which is
 implemented in java and therefore requires a java run-time and a hefty
 processor). Real programmers use VI ;/)

 There are many, many IDE's and standalone editors for 'C' that approach the
 functionality you're describing. I like Eclipse as it's functionally
 equivalent to all commercial modern IDE's, performs automatic makefile
 generation, supports connecting to remote targets, and uses standard
 gcc/gdb/ln.

 --Kenny A.

 http://websites.expercraft.com/kennya/

 ------------------------------------------------------------------

 Thanks Kenny.

 http://www.eclipse.org/home/newcomers.php

 http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/download.php?file=/technology/epp/
 downloads/release/galileo/SR1/eclipse-cpp-galileo-SR1-linux-gtk.tar.gz


 I see they have a Linux C version.
 Looks interesting Kenny.

 How well does the C version work?


 Paul Lamar



Do you use emacs Paul?  It drives some people crazy, but I kinda like
it.  I started with ctrl keys way back on Wordstar for Kaypro word
processors and never found early Word Perfect to be a problem, so when
I started college and the editor of choice there was emacs, I just
jumped in..

Anyway, this page explains pretty well one of the ways to use emacs to
compile and debug.  It's not too bad.

http://www.cs.bu.edu/teaching/tool/emacs/programming/

I actually hadn't ever used that feature set of emacs, but after
messing around with it for a few minutes, I'm finding it to be pretty
slick.  I'll keep it in mind for future projects.

Emacs uses something called "tags" to navigate from one instance of a
variable (or function) to another.  Fairly easy to set up and use.

Also, I just played around with a package called insight - also
probably installed on your linux box.   It works fairly slick as a
standalone GUI debugger, but it doesn't appear to be integrated with
editing and compiling.


Matt-

I have tried emacs but I don't like modal editors. However I'll
take another look.

My involvement here goes back to the middle 1970's.
Before the Apple II appeared. HP started manufacturing the idea
in a calculator product. I sued and won sort of. The attorneys
were the guys that really won. By the time the case was settled
the personal computer obsoleted the concept.

Paul Lamar