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It's still a little strange to me the whole free compiler thing. I used to pay hundreds of dollars each for, first Turbo C/C++, then Borland C/C++ and Zortech C

by dhosek 5y ago

It's still a little strange to me the whole free compiler thing. I used to pay hundreds of dollars each for, first Turbo C/C++, then Borland C/C++ and Zortech C/C++. I think IBM's C/C++ for OS/2 was the first time the compiler came free with an OS that I had on my computer and I was literally shocked that it included—for free—the GUI for building GUI applications. I guess being old is what makes me perfectly fine with paying for tools like IntelliJ which are a relative bargain.

trasz 5y ago
Early Unix systems came with bundled compiler toolchain. I think it was the SunOS which unbundled it first.
- pjmlp 5y ago
  Yes, and made plenty of people rush to GCC's implementation effort, which was largely ignored until that moment.
- ok123456 5y ago
  It's wasn't much of a prize. At school, the Sun C++ compiler, required for the OOP class, was responsible for a lot of people switching out of CS.
- dhosek 5y ago
  This is part of why I specified “on my computer.” I used to use university/work systems and whether it was paid for separately or as part of the OS, I generally had a variety of compilers available to me. My personal favorite oddity was that IBM had two different Pascal compilers for VM/CMS. One was called Pascal/VS and the other VS/Pascal. One was slightly more capable than the other, but I don't remember which it was or what, precisely the difference was. It never came up in compiling TeX and its related software. I do remember the long process of installing PL/I on the UIC mainframe back in the 80s though.
  - dhosek 5y ago
    I'd add that in the early 90s, Linux was very much a fringe OS. I had contemplated running FreeBSD (or was it BSDFree?), but as I only had one computer and getting a second seemed an unimaginable expense, I never did so (I don't think virtual machines on x86 were a viable thing yet either).
chaos_emergent 5y ago
What’s even stranger is that as a 26 year old this is my first time hearing that compilers used to be paid for :) what a great indication of the FOSS movement’s success
- topspin 5y ago
  "used to be" They still are in many cases. Proprietary compilers for embedded devices (MCUs, FPGAs, etc.) are still commonplace. The license for the full Intel compiler suite discussed here isn't free either.
  - Agingcoder 5y ago
    Intel's compiler is free (as in beer) now. It used to be commercial though.

by dhosek 5y ago

trasz 5y ago

Early Unix systems came with bundled compiler toolchain. I think it was the SunOS which unbundled it first.

pjmlp 5y ago
Yes, and made plenty of people rush to GCC's implementation effort, which was largely ignored until that moment.
ok123456 5y ago
It's wasn't much of a prize. At school, the Sun C++ compiler, required for the OOP class, was responsible for a lot of people switching out of CS.
dhosek 5y ago
This is part of why I specified “on my computer.” I used to use university/work systems and whether it was paid for separately or as part of the OS, I generally had a variety of compilers available to me. My personal favorite oddity was that IBM had two different Pascal compilers for VM/CMS. One was called Pascal/VS and the other VS/Pascal. One was slightly more capable than the other, but I don't remember which it was or what, precisely the difference was. It never came up in compiling TeX and its related software. I do remember the long process of installing PL/I on the UIC mainframe back in the 80s though.
- dhosek 5y ago
  I'd add that in the early 90s, Linux was very much a fringe OS. I had contemplated running FreeBSD (or was it BSDFree?), but as I only had one computer and getting a second seemed an unimaginable expense, I never did so (I don't think virtual machines on x86 were a viable thing yet either).

chaos_emergent 5y ago

What’s even stranger is that as a 26 year old this is my first time hearing that compilers used to be paid for :) what a great indication of the FOSS movement’s success

topspin 5y ago
"used to be" They still are in many cases. Proprietary compilers for embedded devices (MCUs, FPGAs, etc.) are still commonplace. The license for the full Intel compiler suite discussed here isn't free either.
- Agingcoder 5y ago
  Intel's compiler is free (as in beer) now. It used to be commercial though.