Mix Software

This is the manual for the Ctrace Debugger for the Mix C Compiler.

Ctrace displays your C source code just as you wrote it. All your variables are displayed just as you named them. Ctrace brings your program to life on the screen. Just press the space bar to execute your program one statement at a time. You will see your variable values change as you watch your source code executing. You will see how your program works, or why it doesn't work. To use Ctrace, you simply compile your program show more with the trace option turned on.

Ctrace maintains six windows of information (any four of which may be displayed at one time): Source Window, Output Window, Variable Window, Watch Window, Symbols Window, and Memory Window. You can define your own screen layouts.

Control Features: (1) Execution options are single step, trace speed, and full speed. (2) You can insert breakpoints on an unlimited number of statements. (3) When a breakpoint is hit, execution is temporarily halted, letting you snoop around to see what your program has done to that point. (4) You can trace the flow of control backwards to see how your program got there. (5) You can insert watch points on variable values. (6) When the value of a variable satisfies the conditions you've defined, execution halts to let you examine your program. (7) You can trace all functions or select just the ones you want to see. show less

This is the manual for the Mix Editor that is designed to work with the Mix C programming language and compiler. See Mix C: Full K&R Standard C Compiler.

The Mix Editor contains more than 100 predefined commands. WordStar users will feel right at home with the editor because the commands are mapped to the keyboard to match the WordStar layout. However, you can change the keyboard layout to suit your taste.

The best four features of the Mix Editor are these: (1) it allows you to split the show more screen (vertically or horizontally) and edit two files simultaneously, moving text back and forth between the two windows; (2) it is programmable, which allows you to create macro commands that will perform complicated editing operations at the press of a key; (3) it automatically configures itself using a setup file that stores your keyboard map and macros. If you use more than one language, a customized setup file can be created for each language. (4) You can run any DOS command without leaving the editor. This means that you can launch your compiler without leaving the editor.

A macro named ERR can be used to display all the errors detected during the last compile operation. The ERR macro splits the screen and displays your C source code in one window and the compile errors in the other. After correcting the errors you simply type CC to compile the program again.

System requirements are minimal: DOS 2.0 or higher, 192K RAM, 1 floppy disk drive. The size of the file that the editor can handle is limited by RAM and disk space. show less

Mix C is an implementation of C as defined in The C Programming Language by Kernighan and Ritchie. This means that the programs written with Mix C are easily ported to other computers and operating systems.

This manual for Mix C is divided into five sections: (1) four chapters are devoted to getting started, which takes you through the steps of compiling and running a C program; (2) nine chapters consist of a tutorial, introducing you to the C programming language with examples; (3) nine show more chapters make up a reference manual, providing a detailed description of the C language; (4) one chapter is devoted to functions, an alphabetic list of all the C library functions; and (5) three chapters cover tools, describing the use of the compiler, linker, and optional development tools. There are also six appendices: (A) Preprocessor Statements, (B) Compiler Options, (C) Compile Errors, (D) Runtime Errors, (E) Differences from K&R, and (F) ASCII Table.

The first step in developing a C program is to enter the program into the computer, keystroke-by-keystroke, and save it to a disk file. This is accomplished through the use of a text editor. Although any text editor will do, the writers of this manual suggest the use of the Mix Editor. See Mix Editor: Programmable Split-Screen Text Processor. The Mix Editor is designed to work hand-in-hand with Mix C.

The second step in developing a C application is to compile the program. The Mix C compiler is a one-pass compiler that reads a C language source file and creates an object file, a low level representation of the C source code.

The third step in development is to link the program(s). The object file(s) must be linked to runtime routines before a program can be run as a standalone command file. The resulting standalone programs are yours to distribute or sell without paying royalties to anyone.

About Mix Software, Inc.

Mix Software develops low cost tools for C and C++ programmers. Many colleges and training companies have adopted their Power C compiler for teaching C programming classes. To date more than 130,000 copies of Power C have been distributed.

Mix Software also promotes their products for do-it-yourself instruction. They offer comprehensive C and C++ video courses developed by Silicon River. They also offer several special purpose programming libraries that can be used with most C and C++ compilers. For example, the C/Database Toolchest provides extensive data management functions that can be used with various C and C++ compilers on four different platforms: DOS/Win16, Win32, OS/2, and Linux.

Power C is an ANSI compatible C compiler for DOS that requires very few resources. It can be installed in less than 1MB of disk space and will run on DOS 2.0 or later. It is compatible with CPUs from the 8088 through the latest Pentiums. show less