Aztec C
Encyclopedia
C (programming language)
C is a general-purpose computer programming language developed between 1969 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system....
compiler
Compiler
A compiler is a computer program that transforms source code written in a programming language into another computer language...
for a variety of older computing platforms, including MS DOS, Apple II
Apple II
The Apple II is an 8-bit home computer, one of the first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products, designed primarily by Steve Wozniak, manufactured by Apple Computer and introduced in 1977...
DOS 3.3
Apple DOS
Apple DOS refers to operating systems for the Apple II series of microcomputers from late 1978 through early 1983. Apple DOS had three major releases: DOS 3.1, DOS 3.2, and DOS 3.3; each one of these three releases was followed by a second, minor "bug-fix" release, but only in the case of Apple DOS...
and ProDOS
ProDOS
ProDOS was the name of two similar operating systems for the Apple II series of personal computers. The original ProDOS, renamed ProDOS 8 in version 1.2, was the last official operating system usable by all Apple II series computers, and was distributed from 1983 to 1993...
, Commodore 64
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
, early Macintosh
Mac OS history
On January 24, 1984, Apple Computer Inc. introduced the Macintosh personal computer, with the Macintosh 128K model, which came bundled with what was later renamed the Mac OS, but then known simply as the System Software....
, CP/M-80
CP/M
CP/M was a mass-market operating system created for Intel 8080/85 based microcomputers by Gary Kildall of Digital Research, Inc...
and Amiga
Amiga
The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
.
History
Manx Software Systems of ShrewsburyShrewsbury, New Jersey
Shrewsbury is a borough in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 3,809....
, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, produced C compilers
Compiler
A compiler is a computer program that transforms source code written in a programming language into another computer language...
beginning in the 1980s targeted at professional developers for a variety of platforms up to and including PCs
IBM PC
The IBM Personal Computer, commonly known as the IBM PC, is the original version and progenitor of the IBM PC compatible hardware platform. It is IBM model number 5150, and was introduced on August 12, 1981...
and Macs
Macintosh
The Macintosh , or Mac, is a series of several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. The first Macintosh was introduced by Apple's then-chairman Steve Jobs on January 24, 1984; it was the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a mouse and a...
.
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 with them for a while on 80XX development and in other areas.
The name "Manx" was selected from a list of cats for no particular reason except that the name Suckow wanted to use was taken.
One of the main reasons for Aztec C's early success was the floating point support for the Z80
Zilog Z80
The Zilog Z80 is an 8-bit microprocessor designed by Zilog and sold from July 1976 onwards. It was widely used both in desktop and embedded computer designs as well as for military purposes...
compiler which was extended to the Apple II
Apple II
The Apple II is an 8-bit home computer, one of the first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products, designed primarily by Steve Wozniak, manufactured by Apple Computer and introduced in 1977...
shortly after. Harry insisted on adding floating point
Floating point
In computing, floating point describes a method of representing real numbers in a way that can support a wide range of values. Numbers are, in general, represented approximately to a fixed number of significant digits and scaled using an exponent. The base for the scaling is normally 2, 10 or 16...
.
During the move to ANSI C
ANSI C
ANSI C refers to the family of successive standards published by the American National Standards Institute for the C programming language. Software developers writing in C are encouraged to conform to the standards, as doing so aids portability between compilers.-History and outlook:The first...
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
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
had targeted competitors for their C compiler and Aztec C was being pushed-out of the general IBM-PC
IBM PC compatible
IBM PC compatible computers are those generally similar to the original IBM PC, XT, and AT. Such computers used to be referred to as PC clones, or IBM clones since they almost exactly duplicated all the significant features of the PC architecture, facilitated by various manufacturers' ability to...
compiler market, followed by competition with Apple's MPW C
Macintosh Programmer's Workshop
Macintosh Programmer's Workshop or MPW, is a software development environment for the Classic Mac OS, written by Apple Computer. For Macintosh developers, it was one of the primary tools for building applications for System 7.x and Mac OS 8.x and 9.x. Initially, MPW was sold as a commercial product...
on the Macintosh side and Lattice C
Lattice C
Lattice C was the first C compiler for MS-DOS on the IBM PC, in 1982. It was ported to many other platforms, such as mainframes , minicomputers , workstations , OS/2, the Commodore Amiga, Atari ST and the Sinclair QL.The compiler was subsequently repackaged by Microsoft under a distribution...
on the Amiga
Amiga
The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
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. Harry 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 Aztec C
C (programming language)
C is a general-purpose computer programming language developed between 1969 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system....
. As their market share dropped, they tried to make the move to specializing in embedded systems development, but it was too late. They disappeared a few years back following the loss of market presence of some of their target platforms (various 6502
MOS Technology 6502
The MOS Technology 6502 is an 8-bit microprocessor that was designed by Chuck Peddle and Bill Mensch for MOS Technology in 1975. When it was introduced, it was the least expensive full-featured microprocessor on the market by a considerable margin, costing less than one-sixth the price of...
machines, Atari
Atari
Atari is a corporate and brand name owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by Atari Interactive, a wholly owned subsidiary of the French publisher Atari, SA . The original Atari, Inc. was founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. It was a pioneer in...
and Amiga
Amiga
The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
68xxx, etc.).
In the end, Jeff Davis and Mike Spille helped Harry keep the company going before Harry finally closed it. Harry is still the Copyright holder for Aztec C.
Many professional developers used Aztec C compilers from Manx Software Systems before they vanished from the planet.
Current status
Aztec C is still CopyrightCopyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
ed and has not been placed into the Public Domain
Public domain
Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
. Harry Suckow, who started Manx Software Systems with partners Thomas Fenwick and James Goodnow II, is the Copyright holder.
Manx Software Systems native Aztec C compilers for Apple II development have been available for free download from the Internet for a number of years as diskimages for Apple II emulators without Copyright infringement action being sought by Manx Software Systems.
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. A third free Internet distribution exists for Aztec C for the Commodore Amiga. A fourth free Internet distribution exists for their MS-DOS 8086 native compiler, and a fifth exists for a limited version of their MS DOS cross-compiler for Apple II ProDOS 8.
Current Use
Emulators for these older now-obsolete platforms have become popular with enthusiasts and hobbyists, and most emulators are free or almost free. No commercial market exists for programs or development environments that run on these older now-obsolete platforms.Despite the fact that these compilers are no longer of any commercial value, the native Aztec C Compilers for these platforms are still as usable as they ever were on their respective native platforms, and the MS DOS Aztec C cross-development compilers for these platforms work under Windows XP
Windows XP
Windows XP is an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops and media centers. First released to computer manufacturers on August 24, 2001, it is the second most popular version of Windows, based on installed user base...
. This means that a C programmer-enthusiast can create programs in an emulator or in the Windows environment then run them on an emulator or transfer them to a real (but obsolete) target computer using a serial cable or some other means.
Where Are They Now?
Today the 3 partners who started Manx Software Systems maintain a very low public profile, despite the fact that they were industry leaders in the 1980s.Harry Suckow
Harry Suckow is still in New Jersey and works with a service providing background checks for adults who work with children in sports.Thomas Fenwick
Thomas Fenwick, the main person behind the Aztec compiler, went on to create the kernel for Windows CE. The latter reference suggests: "Thomas Fenwick is one of those guys at Microsoft that I think they put in the corner in some closet, and ... they throw him at the hardest problems they have in the company. A genius of the nth order, an absolutely brilliant guy. And he came in and his job was to create something new." Which, by implication, he did. "And so Thomas came in and he looked at Mimosa and he said, basically, 'This is crap. I don’t like it. Let’s throw this away.' He didn’t tell anybody though, and so for two months, he set out to write a new operating system and he called it NK, because I think that it was called New Kernel... Thomas told us that he had written this New Kernel, and that the compilers were working just fine, and he had built it and it was running on the SH3 reference board, and all was well, so we continued to cruise down that path. And New Kernel, or NK, subsequently became what people know as Windows CE today."This modus operandi, of producing a new program ab ovo in record time after hours, is representative of Fenwick's work on Aztec C and Jim Goodnow's work on his vi for the Apple IIe, completed during a long weekend of binge programming. (Goodnow was responsible for the Aztec backends for the Apple, Commodore and Amiga platforms.)
Thomas is now a Photographer and lives in Washington State, USA.
James Goodnow II
James Goodnow worked extensively on the Amiga during and after leaving Manx Software Systems.He is now in California.
External links
- Windows Port of the UAE Amiga Emulator
- [ftp://ftp.apple.asimov.net/pub/apple_II/emulators/ Apple II Emulators]
- VICE Commodore Emulator
- DOSBox MS-DOS Emulator for Windows
- The Unofficial Aztec C Online Museum