Acorn C/C++

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Acorn C/C++
Acorn CC++ cover.jpg
Software packaging
Original author(s) Codemist, Acorn Computers
Developer(s) RISC OS Open
Initial release 1988 (1988)[specify]
Stable release 26[1] / October 22, 2015 (2015-10-22)
Development status Active
Written in C and Assembly language[citation needed]
Operating system RISC OS
Platform ARM architecture
Licence Proprietary commercial software
Website {{#property:P856}}

Acorn C/C++ is a set of C/C++ programming tools for use under the RISC OS operating system. The tools use the Norcroft compiler suite and were authored by Codemist and Acorn Computers.[2] The tools provide some facilities offered by a fully integrated development environment.

Acorn included a copy of the Norcroft compiler targeted at the ARM architecture for RISC OS in the following development software.

  • Acornsoft ANSI C
  • Acornsoft ANSI C (Release 2)
  • Acorn ANSI C (Release 3) - 1989[3]
  • Acorn Desktop C (Release 4)
  • Acorn C/C++ (Release 5) - 1995[4]

History

Acorn's work on ANSI C compilers was begun around 1987,[2] with a commercial release in 1988 for its Archimedes computer.[5][verification needed] Desktop C and Desktop Assembler were released in 1991.[2] Codemist worked primarily on the ANSI C standard, while Acorn concentrated on the RISC OS specifics and optimisation for the ARM. Both parties exchanged sources regularly.[2][6]

The tools were originally developed by university academics Alan Mycroft and Arthur C Norman of Codemist.[7] Their development was taken up by Acorn and subsequently taken over by Castle Technology, who later added the lacking C99[8] support. Castle funded further development by means of a subscription scheme.[9] In early 2009, development and sales of the tools were transferred to RISC OS Open.[10]

Uses

The Norcroft compiler can be used to produce RISC OS modules, as well as compiling parts of the operating system itself. Before beginning development of the Inform programming language, Graham Nelson originally used Norcroft C to develop his text adventure Curses.[11][12]

The suite of tools is currently the only means of building a working copy of RISC OS, although it is ultimately intended that this will also be possible using a cross compiler, e.g. using the free software GCC system.[13]

See also

References

  1. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. Acorn - ANSI C (Release 3)
  4. Acorn - Sales News 127 - 6th Feb 1995
  5. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links