Digital Mars is an American

computer software Software consists of computer programs that instruct the Execution (computing), execution of a computer. Software also includes design documents and specifications. The history of software is closely tied to the development of digital comput ...

company founded by Walter Bright and based in

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. It makes C, C++, and D compilers, and associated utilities such as an

integrated development environment An integrated development environment (IDE) is a Application software, software application that provides comprehensive facilities for software development. An IDE normally consists of at least a source-code editor, build automation tools, an ...

(IDE) for

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and DOS, which Digital Mars calls an integrated development and debugging environment (IDDE). The compilers can be downloaded, free of charge, from Digital Mars's website. Product names changed over time. The C compiler was first named Datalight C compiler, then Zorland C, then Zortech C, then Digital Mars C/C++ compiler. The C++ compiler was first named Zortech C++, then Symantec C++, then Digital Mars C++ (DMC++). The company gained notice in the software development community for creating the D programming language. D resulted from Bright's frustration with the direction of the C++ language and from his experience implementing it. Digital Mars is also notable for having shipped the first commercial C++ compiler for

In 2002, Digital Mars released DMDScript, an ECMA-262-compliant JavaScript engine, written in D.

History

In 1988, Zortech was the first C++ compiler to ship for

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ran a graphics benchmark and reported that most executables produced by Zortech ran faster than executables produced by Microsoft C 5.1 and by Watcom C 6.5. Stanley B. Lippman wrote that Zortech was the first C++ compiler to implement

return value optimization Return may refer to: In business, economics, and finance * Return on investment (ROI), the financial gain after an expense. * Rate of return, the financial term for the profit or loss derived from an investment * Tax return, a blank document or ...

. Later, the C++ standard required this. In 2023, Mike Engelhardt released a new simulator QSPICE, which uses this compiler on the backend to allow for C++ and Verilog authored behavioral simulation models to be compiled to native code and loaded by the simulation environment.

Reception

In a February 1989 overview of optimizing C compilers, ''

BYTE The byte is a unit of digital information that most commonly consists of eight bits. Historically, the byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of text in a computer and for this reason it is the smallest addressable un ...

'' approved of Zortech C 1.07's $90 price, included IDE, and Microsoft CodeView compatibility. The magazine reported that the software "lacks some of the features of those in the $400 range" but its code often benchmarked better. ''BYTE'' concluded that "Zortech does everything that a compiler has to do—at an attractive price".

References

External links

* C (programming language) compilers C++ compilers Software companies of the United States {{Ict-company-stub