Aztec C: Difference between revisions

▲One of the main reasons for Aztec C's early success was the floating point support for the [[Zilog Z80|Z80]] compiler which was extended to the [[Apple II]] shortly after. Suckow insisted on adding [[floating point]].

▲During the move to [[ANSI C]] in 1989, Robert Sherry who was with Manx at the time and interested in the minutiae of standards represented them on the ANSI committee but left shortly after. He also fixed numerous bugs in the Aztec C after Chris Macey and Thomas Fenwick left the company.

▲By this time [[Microsoft]] had targeted competitors for their C compiler and Aztec C was being pushed-out of the general [[IBM PC compatible|IBM-PC]] compiler market, followed by competition with [[Macintosh Programmer's Workshop|Apple's MPW C]] on the Macintosh side and [[Lattice C]] on the [[Amiga]] after SAS bought them.

▲In 1989 Thomas Fenwick left to work for Microsoft, and James Goodnow worked on Aztec C occasionally but was pursuing other projects outside the company and eventually left the company altogether. Suckow employed about 20 people at that time. Chris Macey returned as a consultant but eventually left to become chief scientist for another company. Mike Spille joined Manx as a developer along with the late Jeff Davis (embedded systems).

▲Throughout the 1990s they continued to make their [[C (programming language)|Aztec C]]. As their market share dropped, they tried to make the move to specializing in [[Embedded system|embedded systems development]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sltf.com/articles/pein/pein9103.htm|title=PC chipsets build a firm foundation for embedded applications|work=sltf.com|accessdate=24 June 2016}}</ref> but it was too late. They disappeared a few years back following the loss of market presence of some of their target platforms (various [[MOS Technology 6502|6502]] machines, [[Atari]] and [[Amiga]] [[68000|68xxx]], etc.).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.itee.uq.edu.au/~csmweb/decompilation/hist-c-pc.html |title=Archived copy |accessdate=November 22, 2007 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071215083657/http://www.itee.uq.edu.au/~csmweb/decompilation/hist-c-pc.html |archivedate=December 15, 2007 }}</ref>

▲In the end, Jeff Davis and Mike Spille helped Harry Suckow keep the company going before Suckow finally closed it. Suckow is still the Copyright holder for Aztec C.

▲Many professional developers used the Manx Software Systems' Aztec C compiler until it became operationally extinct.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://support.microsoft.com/kb/60781|title=Hardware and software vendor contact information, L-P<!-- Bot generated title -->|work=microsoft.com|accessdate=24 June 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hDBPy-C7jl4C&pg=RA1-PA99&lpg=RA1-PA99&dq=%22manx%20software%20systems%22%20shrewsbury&source=web&ots=oq6cR0v7fm&sig=miY94IawT6O0DHp7uo74RetGIy0|title=Encyclopedia of Microcomputers: Volume 11 - Management Studies to Multiprocessing and Multitasking|first1=Allen|last1=Kent|first2=James G.|last2=Williams|date=25 November 1992|publisher=CRC Press|accessdate=24 June 2016|via=Google Books}}</ref>

▲At least two free Internet distributions exist for native Aztec C Compilers for the Apple II; one for Apple II DOS 3.3 and the other for Apple II ProDOS 8.<ref name="museum">{{cite web|url=http://www.clipshop.ca/Aztec/index.htm#apple|title=The Official Aztec C Online Museum|work=clipshop.ca|accessdate=24 June 2016}}</ref> A third free Internet distribution exists for Aztec C for the Commodore Amiga.<ref name="museum"/> A fourth free Internet distribution exists for their MS-DOS 8086 native compiler,<ref name="museum"/> and a fifth exists for a limited version of their [[MS-DOS]] [[cross-compiler]] for Apple II ProDOS 8.