Aztec C: Difference between revisions

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{{About|the computer software|the small aircraft|Piper PA-23#Aztec}}
{{Tone|date=August 2011}}
{{Infobox software
| name = Aztec C
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| developer = [[Manx Software Systems]]
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| genre = [[Compiler]]
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'''Aztec C''' is a now discontinued [[C (programming language)|C]] [[compiler]] for [[MS-DOS]], [[Apple II]] [[Apple DOS|DOS 3.3]] and [[ProDOS]], [[Commodore 64]], early [[Macintosh]], [[CP/M|CP/M-80]], [[Amiga]], and [[Atari ST]].
 
==History==
[[Manx Software Systems]] of [[Shrewsbury, New Jersey|Shrewsbury]], [[New Jersey]], produced [[Compiler|C compilers]] beginning in the 1980s targeted at developers for platforms up to and including [[IBM PC|PCs]] and [[Macintosh|Macs]].
 
Manx Software Systems was started by Harry Suckow, with partners Thomas Fenwick, and James Goodnow II, the two principal developers. They were all working together at another company at the time. Suckow had started several companies of his own anticipating the impending growth of the PC market, with each company specializing in different kinds of software. A demand came for compilers first and he disengaged himself from the other companies to pursue Manx and Aztec C.
 
Suckow took care of the business side, Fenwick specialized in front-end compiler development, and Goodnow specialized in back-end compiler development. Another developer, Chris Macey, worked withassisted them formomentarily a while onwith 80XX development, andapart infrom other areas.
 
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]].
The name "Manx" was selected from a list of [[Cat|cats]] for no particular reason except that the name Suckow wanted to use was taken.
 
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 [[American National Standards Institute|ANSI]] committee{{Citation needed|date=March 2022}} but left shortly after. He also fixed numerous bugs in the Aztec C after Chris Macey and Thomas Fenwick left the company.
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 [[American National Standards Institute|ANSI]] committee{{Citation needed|date=March 2022}} 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 system|embedded systems]]).
 
Throughout the 1990s they continued to make their Aztec C compiler. 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|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303172804/http://www.sltf.com/articles/pein/pein9103.htm|archive-date=3 March 2016|url-status=dead}}</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 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071215083657/http://www.itee.uq.edu.au/~csmweb/decompilation/hist-c-pc.html |archivedate=December 15, 2007 }}</ref>