Date:	Mon, 19 Oct 92 16:54:00 CDT
From:	"George Jetson" <pynq AT midway DOT uchicago DOT edu>
To:	djgpp AT sun DOT soe DOT clarkson DOT edu
Subject:	factor, gcc, and bcc...

Or,
	Why you might prefer the DJGPP compiled versions of things
	over the MSC/Borland compiled versions of things...

The basic answer is that software developed for Unix often compiles
and runs better when compiled under a Unix(ish) compiler than it does
when ported to a DOS compiler.

Example:
	I snagged a copy of factor (the cute litle program, usually
found in /usr/games, that prime factors numbers) from an FTP site, with
an eye to getting it running under DOS.  I transferred it to my PC,
compiled it with GCC (DJGPP) and it runs flawlessly.

Next, I tried compiling it with bcc (Borland C++, v2.0) and it compiled
fine, but when I ran it, got err msg "ouch".  This msg is the general
abort out of factor (I.e., the msg is generated by the program, not by
the runtime or the OS) and, as far as I can tell, it was probably
caused by some error parsing the cmd line args.

Well, the point is, it wasn't worth my time messing around trying to
find out what the problem was, since I already had a working version.
But I am curious, and if anyone has any ideas, I'd be glad to hear them...
-----
Finally, I think the idea of putting GO32.EXE on a RAM disk (putting
that dir first on your PATH) is a very good idea.

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