Digital Mars
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{{Infobox company
| name = Digital Mars
| logo = Digital_Mars_logo.jpg
| type =
| industry = Software industry
| fate =
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| founded =
| founders = Walter Bright
| defunct =
| hq_location_city = Vienna, Virginia, United States
| hq_location_country =
| key_people =
| products =
| num_employees =
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| homepage = {{URL|digitalmars.com}}
}}
Digital Mars is an American computer software company founded by Walter Bright and based in Vienna, Virginia. It makes C, C++, and D compilers, and associated utilities such as an integrated development environment (IDE) for Windows and DOS, which Digital Mars calls an integrated development and debugging environment (IDDE).{{cite web |url=http://www.digitalmars.com/features.html |title=Digital Mars Features}}
The compilers can be downloaded, free of charge, from Digital Mars's website.{{cite web |url=http://www.digitalmars.com/download/dmcpp.html |title=Digital Mars License Agreement}}
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.{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}
Digital Mars is also notable for having shipped the first commercial C++ compiler for Windows
In 2002, Digital Mars released DMDScript, an ECMA-262-compliant JavaScript engine, written in D.{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}
History
In 1988, Zortech was the first C++ compiler to ship for Windows. PC Magazine 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.{{cite magazine |last=Randy Davis |first=Stephen |date=October 31, 1988 |title=Zortech Ships First C++ Compiler |page=38 |url=https://archive.org/details/PC-Mag-1988-10-31 |magazine=PC Magazine |location=New York |publisher=Ziff Davis |access-date=March 7, 2018 |quote="The first true C++ compiler for the PC" }} Stanley B. Lippman wrote that Zortech was the first C++ compiler to implement return value optimization. Later, the C++ standard required this.{{cite book| title=C++ Gems: Programming Pearls from The C++ Report (SIGS Reference Library)|isbn=0-13-570581-9|author=Stanley B. Lippman|author-link=Stanley B. Lippman|year=1997 |quote="It was first implemented by Walter Bright in a version of his Zortech C++ compiler"}}
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.{{cite web| title=Using C++ and Verilog in QSPICE| url=https://www.qorvo.com/design-hub/videos/using-c-plus-plus-and-verilog-in-qspice|access-date=July 26, 2023}}{{cite web| title=QSPICE Revolutionizes Power, Analog Device Circuit Simulation | url=https://www.eetimes.com/qspice-revolutionizes-power-analog-device-circuit-simulation|access-date=July 26, 2023}}
Reception
In a February 1989 overview of optimizing C compilers, BYTE 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".{{Cite magazine |last=Apiki |first=Steven |last2=Udell |first2=Jon |date=February 1989 |title=Smoothing Out C |url=https://archive.org/details/eu_BYTE-1989-02_OCR/page/n225/mode/1up?view=theater |access-date=2024-10-08 |magazine=BYTE |pages=170-186}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Official Website}}
Category:C (programming language) compilers
Category:Software companies of the United States
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