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Free or shareware compilers, interpreters, operating systems
This page is a fairly rough and ready collection of things I've discovered, found useful, etc, in my activities as a programmer. If you are not interested in programming, read no further! If you are, I hope some of the things here will interest you and be helpful.
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Ad from our sponsor: Yes.. I do enjoy compiling these things for you...
hope they are helpful. However.. this doesn't pay my bills!!! If you
find this stuff useful, (and you run an MS-DOS or Windows PC ) please visit my freeware and shareware page,
download something, and circulate it for me? Links on your page to
this page would also be appreciated!
Click here to visit editor's freeware, shareware page.
Websites come and go. If any of the links below do not give you what you wanted, try using Google to find a current source for the file you were after. Of course, there are other search engines you can try. I like Google, or you can use the Yahoo directory
Misc: Free or shareware compilers for languages other than Pascal
Please see what else is on this page before trying either of the next two links. Some of the things here weren't there when I looked. After you've checked what's on your screen now, you may want to go to www.freecompilers.com. Their home page has lots of less useful stuff, and they have pop-ups to take you to casinos, etc, etc, BUT: If you search on "free compilers" you get a useful list of links.
Alternatively, go to www.idiom.com/free-compilers/, which is another site dedicated to indexing free compilers and interpreters.
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Logo programming language, Windows version... and more!!
Give Logo a try sometime, if you haven't already. The following offers
FREE, but GOOD, implementations for Win 3.1 and 95. Good help file which
will get you going, if you need help. You can even do "3D" work. Excellent resource for schools... you can't play the 'we can't afford it' excuse!! It has good introductory tutorials in the 'Help' files. Try it!! You might like it!! Visit Softronics, for two programs.
Also at the Softronics site, but untested by me is another free program. This one is huge... but appears to offer a very powerful (and I use that word sparingly!!) digital logic simulator. I.e. (though this only scratches the surface) you can set up a virtual circuit with some AND gates, OR gates, switches on the inputs, LEDs on the outputs. Then you 'switch' the 'switches' and the program shows you what the LEDs would do. A Windows program.
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Stella, Version 9. Again, large, but extraordinary. In version 7, it was free, and only slightly hobbled Sadly, now the free version is only a 30 day trial... but still interesting. This is a modelling package. For example, you could model queues at a traffic light. You create (drag and drop) a "source" of cars. You "connect" the "flow" of cars to a junction. You define rules for how the cars flow through the junction, and create "output" objects on the display, and click "go". The program displays graphics showing how your traffic would behave. Other uses: Model ecosystems, floods and droughts in a watershed, etc, etc. Worth a try! Get it from www.hps-inc.com... FREE download!
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Sun Microsystems have an major Java SDK for your delight. The download is a little daunting unless you have broadband, but if you download the whole JAVA package, the one with "NetBeans", you'll find yourself the happy new owner of a major Windows programming system.
Click here for Sun... I think.
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Forth is another interesting 'minor' language... not least because it employs RPN!
Do a search at FileZ for 'forth' in DOS entries, and you'll get
a bunch of choices. If you find one that is particularly good, and less than $20, please let me know which it is?
Click here for FileZ
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Not tried by me, but I've heard of a freeware 32-bit DOS C and C++ compiler at
(Click here). (I had trouble getting in. The URL without a terminal / was rejected, but then, with the /, I couldn't get in at all!)
(As long as it is available, I'd go for the free Borland C++)
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Not tried by me, but probably worth a try: MindRover.
www.cognitoy.com offers a downloadable demo. Write me a short review for me for inclusion here? It allows you to enjoy playing with programming and logic by creating your own "Rover".
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ToonTalk: Animated Computing Programming for Kids
Desciption derived from a press release....
ToonTalk is a way of programming computers from inside an
animated game-like world.
The hope is that the user (typically a child) can create programs through concrete analogs. The user learns to train robots, to give birds messages to deliver, to load up trucks to construct new houses, and so on. And in doing so, the user is programming.
ToonTalk includes a game that teaches programming. Narrated demos are included as well.
Download demo by ftp from Simtel by clicking here. (8mb)
Click here to visit author's site.
N.B,: This is probably NOT free to use extensively, but the demo is free, and I decided to make an exception for something which looked so interesting.
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At www.vector.org.uk you will find a wealth of information about the APL language, including a free interpreter at vector.org.uk/prodguid/ibm
Operating Systems...
The following looks a little dated now: "Of course, there's Linux... but that's another story!" (But then again, I have been saying that since 2002, so perhaps you'll forgive me leaving that in, for "old times sake"?) One brief point about that: Open Office (the descendant of Sun's Star Office, which I've extolled for about as long) is really worth a look, even if you are still with Windoze. (There's a version for Windows AND one for Linux.) Consider trying it so that when (!) you move to Linux, you'll already be familiar with the FREE "Office" that is available. But... getting back to the point...
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Sick of Bill Gates running everything? Want DR-DOS (like MS-DOS), with personal netware? Want other NON-MS stuff, reasonable prices, as shareware? Pay a visit to: Great DOS
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FreeDos project
is.... here
Free or shareware Pascal compilers and interpreters...
I should read my own web pages! In June 2007, I "discovered" FPC, also known as Free Pascal. It's great! At least that is my initial impression, after spending several days creating FPC-specific versions of many of my Pascal Tutorials. The funny thing is that there's been a plug for FPC here for many years... but I hadn't got around to trying it! And, I suppose, it has come on a lot from the product I might have seen back then. It is similar to Borland's Turbo Pascal, but more Windows friendly. It is available in Windows, Linux, and Mac versions. It is opensource. It is the basis of Lazarus, which may be a "free Delphi/ Kylix"... but I haven't had time to try that... yet! Interested? Visit my page all about FPC, Free Pascal, FPK.
Not everything free is worthless! Borland have released version 5.5 of Turbo Pascal for free use within some reasonable limitations. This is a very capable product, once used by professional programmers for "real" work. It is not far removed from Turbo Pascal ver.7 which was still for sale at serious prices when I first wrote this paragraph. (As I edit it, 6/07, TP 7.0 is available on eBay for $80.) From time to time, Borland have also made old- but- good versions of their C++ compiler available. I get tired of trying to keep track of the changing offerings, but you can go to my page about obtaining Turbo Pascal, and from there you may find the other Borland freebies, if it isn't TP you want.
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Tried by me, a little, a very reasonable Pascal compiler. Free for non-commercial use, as I remember it. It isn't as good as Borland Turbo Pascal (which is great!), but it is a way to give Pascal a try. The Borland product gives you a MUCH nicer working environment.
(Click here for more information on TMT Pascal)
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These two sites have Pascal compiler information:
Click here
and...
Click here (response was slow 12-98, but something came eventually!)
[The above was slated for demolition, but who knows...?]
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John Stockton's great site of links (click here for links to free compilers and resources for same) mentions 'Surpas'. It was said to be a simple Pascal compiler roughly equivalent to Turbo-Pascal v1.0.
At 7-99 you could get a zipped a copy of Surpas by clicking here to download it from ftp.circuitcellar.com.
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Also...
Edward Whittaker <147216.97@swansea.ac.uk> wrote:
"Has anyone had problems getting GNU Pascal working on a PC? I downloaded the "Quick" Version including Rhide and DJGPP from.....
..(ftp he used.. but of course what's there may have changed)...
"I altered the path in autoexec.bat and checked the djgpp.env file but when I run and try to compile from rhide, my computer hangs.
The following answer was posted for him...
"Please try....
- to run GPC from the command line instead of RHIDE (just to see
whether it makes a difference):
gpc --automake myprog.pas -o myprog.exe
- to upgrade your version of RHIDE
Click here
- to upgrade your version of GPC
ftp://agnes.dida.physik.uni-essen.de/gnu-pascal/alpha/
A great place to get help with GNU Pascal is the GPC mailing list.
Information about this is on the GPC home page.
___
And for more on GNU, visit The Chief's homepage...
Dr. Abimbola A. Olowofoyeku (The African Chief)
Email: laa12@keele.ac.uk
Author of: Chief's Installer Pro 4.01 for Win16 and Win32:
Winner of PC PLUS Magazine Gold Award (April 1995 U.K. edition)
Click here for the Chief's site
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From a newsgroup post:
Free or inexpensive Pascal compilers for DOS:
TMT Pascal Lite
http://www.tmt.com/ (see other citation here)
FPK Pascal (see also next item in TK Boyd's site)
http://www.our-pla.net/FPK and
GNU Pascal
ftp://kampi.hut.fi/jtv/gnu-pascal/
http://home.pages.de/~gnu-pascal/
Out of all the alternative Pascal compilers I've tried, TMT by
and far was the best. I could do jump tables, BASM style assembly,
call interrupts without a GPF, and actually *do* something with
it. Granted, there are some annoyances w/ it... but they are
minor. The compiler is fast and produces decent code.
[end of newsgroup quote]
===
Another newsgroup post:
FPC version 1.0beta1 (internal version: 0.99.8) has been released for Linux.
The Dos and OS/2 versions will follow soon. Below you'll
find the official announcement from the fpc mailing list:
***
Subject: [fpk-pascal] Version 1.0 beta 1 - 0.99.8 for Linux released.
Date: 10-09-1998 17:21
Received: 13-09-1998 21:46
From: Michael Van Canneyt, Michael.VanCanneyt@fys.kuleuven.ac.be
Reply-To: fpk, fpk-pascal@tohotom.vein.hu
To: mailing list FPK, fpk-pascal@tohotom.vein.hu
Hello,
Version 0.99.8 (aka version 1.0 beta 1) of the Free Pascal Compiler
for Linux has been released.
This release features:
- Nearly 100% TP compatibility.
- Delphi Classes, properties, exceptions.
- Smart linking.
- Easy making of shared and static libraries.
- All (well, 99.99 %) compiler bugs from the developers' bug repository fixed.
- More than 430 manual pages, up-to-date with the current compiler.
Specific for Linux:
- Graph unit based on svgalib.
- Ports unit for accessing ports.
- Better sockets support.
- Shared library (libfpc.so) and static library (libfpc.a) of the RTL
included in the release.
Interested in Downloading ? Take a look at the web pages
http://tfdec1.fys.kuleuven.ac.be/~michael/fpc/fpc.html
or the ftp site:
tar: ftp://tflily.fys.kuleuven.ac.be/pub/fpc/dist/fpc-0.99.8.ELF.tar
rpm: ftp://tflily.fys.kuleuven.ac.be/pub/fpc/dist/fpc-0.99.8-1.i386.rpm
ftp://tflily.fys.kuleuven.ac.be/pub/fpc/dist/fpc-0.99.8-1.i386.rpm
.tar as separate files:
ftp://tflily.fys.kuleuven.ac.be/pub/fpc/dist/separate
Both the .tar and .rpm passed testing on a Linux SuSe 5.2 machine
Red Hat users should have no problems, since by
default Free Pascal doesn't need any libc library.
The only known real incompatibility with TP is that sets have different sizes
(small sets are always stored in 4 bytes, large sets in 32 bytes).
And the smart linking rocks! Our hello world is now about 5Kb instead of some
32Kb (and more if you didn't strip the executable with -Xs). Still the double
of TP, but we're not going to be nitpicky, are we?
BTW: the docs are now available as TeX, HTML, plain text files, PostScript and
PDF.
This page is rough and ready. What has appeared so far is the result of which notes to myself I could find in an untidy office. Material will be added (and what is here will be tidied up!!) as time permits... feedback on what is here so far could influence the page's direction!
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