I just installed Pelle C 7.0 and converted an old MS-DOS command-line program to compile with it, as a command-line program under Windows x64.
The experience was totally painless!
I had to add a bit of conditional compilation (I eventually found that __POCC__ was the magic #define to check for). Then I had to make a small change to replace filelength() and fileno() (I guess these were MS-DOS-specific) with fseek() and ftell(). The built-in help was very helpful.
I also had to use the debugger. After I discovered that COFF wasn't compatible with x64, everything worked beautifully and I found the problem easily.
Actually, I do have one suggestion. Many other debuggers I've seen use F7 and F8 and a few other keys that were standardised by Borland's debugging systems, but Pelles C debugger uses F10 and F11 and a few others. It might be a good idea to provide an option to remap those keys.
The build process was very fast, the final executable was pretty small, and it worked perfectly!
So I think Pelles C is an EXCELLENT system. Small, complete, well-implemented, well-documented, behaves as I expect. And free! I'm VERY impressed and grateful! This is one of the best examples of free, independently written software I've seen.
I've sent a donation and I hope to be able to send another one in future.
THANK YOU for a great system!
KrisBlueNZ
Kris in Wellington, New Zealand
