Date   : Wed, 24 May 1989 12:44:43 GMT
From   : dvnspc1!gary@burdvax.prc.unisys.com (Gary Barrett)
Subject: Wanted: PL/M-80 compiler

In article <808FYS-EH@FINTUVM>, FYS-EH@FINTUVM.BITNET (Esa Heinonen) writes:
> Does anyone know if there is a PL/M-80 compiler (commercial
> or otherwise) for use in MS-DOS machines?
> 
> 
> ------------------------------------------------
> |  Esa Heinonen, University of Turku, Finland  |
> ------------------------------------------------


I think that you will discover PL/M to be a language totally
unsupported outside INTEL itself.  Certainly, PL/M has been a very
popular language, widely used for micro development.  Yet go to any
bookstore and you won't find one tutorial on it.  And I know of no
commercial compilers for it other than those marketed by Intel.

The problem is with Intel, not with PL/M.  My experience with Intel
marketeers has been that the company claims that it supports openness
(C, UNIX, etc) yet at the same time tries to push us developers
onto  their proprietary s/w solutions : PL/M, iRMx, you name it.  Clearly,
the drive is to lock one into their products and gouge us with high
license fees.   And heaven help the person who tries to clone any of
their stuff.  It's lawsuit city.  (I can understand how Intel and IBM
have become so friendly. They understand one another.)  

That's too bad too, because I personally find PL/M to be a good
language.  But who wants non-portable software these days, and a language
tied directly to one vendor's product line?  If I'm writing a one-time
application on an embedded system, PL/M may seem appropriate.  But
for anything that has to last over the long term, possibly on future
hardware platforms, I'm forced to use C.