BDS C (or the ''BD Software C Compiler'') is a

compiler In computing, a compiler is a computer program that Translator (computing), translates computer code written in one programming language (the ''source'' language) into another language (the ''target'' language). The name "compiler" is primaril ...

for a sizeable subset of the

C programming language C (''pronounced'' '' – like the letter c'') is a general-purpose programming language. It was created in the 1970s by Dennis Ritchie and remains very widely used and influential. By design, C's features cleanly reflect the capabilities of ...

, that ran on and generated code for the

Intel 8080 The Intel 8080 is Intel's second 8-bit computing, 8-bit microprocessor. Introduced in April 1974, the 8080 was an enhanced successor to the earlier Intel 8008 microprocessor, although without binary compatibility.'' Electronic News'' was a week ...

and

Zilog Z80 The Zilog Z80 is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit microprocessor designed by Zilog that played an important role in the evolution of early personal computing. Launched in 1976, it was designed to be Backward compatibility, software-compatible with the ...

processors. It was the first C compiler for

CP/M CP/M, originally standing for Control Program/Monitor and later Control Program for Microcomputers, is a mass-market operating system created in 1974 for Intel 8080/Intel 8085, 85-based microcomputers by Gary Kildall of Digital Research, Dig ...

. It was written by Leor Zolman and first released in 1979 when he was 20 years old. "BDS" stands for "Brain Damage Software." BDS C was popular and influential among

users and developers. It ran much faster than other Z80-hosted compilers. It was possible to run BDS C on single-

floppy A floppy disk or floppy diskette (casually referred to as a floppy, a diskette, or a disk) is a type of disk storage composed of a thin and flexible disk of a magnetic storage medium in a square or nearly square plastic enclosure lined with a ...

machines with as little as 30K of

RAM Ram, ram, or RAM most commonly refers to: * A male sheep * Random-access memory, computer memory * Ram Trucks, US, since 2009 ** List of vehicles named Dodge Ram, trucks and vans ** Ram Pickup, produced by Ram Trucks Ram, ram, or RAM may also ref ...

in comparison to most other commercial compilers which required many passes and the writing of intermediate files to disk. Weak points of BDS C were that the

floating point In computing, floating-point arithmetic (FP) is arithmetic on subsets of real numbers formed by a ''significand'' (a signed sequence of a fixed number of digits in some base) multiplied by an integer power of that base. Numbers of this form ...

math routines and the file access functions were incompatible with the C compiler used on UNIX, and that its relocatable object files were incompatible with the Microsoft MACRO-80 assembler, making it more difficult to integrate C code with

assembly language In computing, assembly language (alternatively assembler language or symbolic machine code), often referred to simply as assembly and commonly abbreviated as ASM or asm, is any low-level programming language with a very strong correspondence bet ...

. BDS C was bundled with a subset of the Unix system written in about 1980, called MARC (Machine Assisted Resource Coordinator). This effort in some ways resembled

GNU GNU ( ) is an extensive collection of free software (394 packages ), which can be used as an operating system or can be used in parts with other operating systems. The use of the completed GNU tools led to the family of operating systems popu ...

, though MARC was to be able to run CP/M software through emulation. Unfortunately MARC's author, Ed Ziemba, perished in a

snorkeling Snorkeling (American and British English spelling differences#Doubled in British English, British and Commonwealth English spelling: snorkelling) is the practice of human swimming, swimming face down on or through a body of water while breathing ...

accident before he could complete the project. In 2002, Leor Zolman released the

8080 The Intel 8080 is Intel's second 8-bit microprocessor. Introduced in April 1974, the 8080 was an enhanced successor to the earlier Intel 8008 microprocessor, although without binary compatibility.'' Electronic News'' was a weekly trade newspa ...

source code for BDS C, along with the sources of 8080 assembler and linking tool, into the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no Exclusive exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly Waiver, waived, or may be inapplicable. Because no one holds ...

Reception

Around 75,000 copies were sold, including a stripped down Japanese version. A number of commercial CP/M products were written in the BDS C subset of the C language, including PeachText from PeachTree Software, MINCE and Scribble from

Mark of the Unicorn Mark of the Unicorn (MOTU) is a music-related computer software and hardware supplier developed by Jason Linhart, Craig Finseth, Scott Layson Burson, Brian Hess. It is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts and has created music software since 1984. ...

, and most of the software in the Perfect Software suite including

Perfect Writer Perfect Writer is a word processor computer program published by Perfect Software for CP/M. In 1984, Thorn EMI Computer Software acquired an exclusive marketing and distribution licence for Perfect Software's products, and the program was rewritte ...

, PerfectCalc, PerfectSpeller, and PerfectFiler (which suite was bundled with the

Kaypro Kaypro Corporation was an American home and personal computer manufacturer based in Solana Beach, California, in the 1980s. The company was founded by Non-Linear Systems (NLS) to compete with the popular Osborne 1 portable microcomputer. Kaypro ...

References

External links

BD Software download page
- historical note about Leor Zolman and BDS C

* BDS C Users Group {{DEFAULTSORT:Bds C 1979 software C (programming language) compilers CP/M software Free and open source compilers Formerly proprietary software Public-domain software with source code Assembly language software

Reception

See also

References

External links