Wanted: C Compiler

September 26, 2006 10:40 PM

Does anybody know of a free C compiler for DOS that generates 16-bit code and allows in-line assembly?
posted by iconjack to computers & internet (9 answers total)

By 16-bit code, do you mean something that can run on an 80286 / 8086 / 8088, or something else?
posted by hattifattener at 10:49 PM on September 26, 2006

The ELKS project has a cross-compiler targeting 8086s and 286s, in freestanding mode but maybe there's a DOS libc available. This mirror of the old SIMTEL archive has a few compilers. pcc was targeted to DOS at one point, I think; you should be able to find a copy of that somewhere.
posted by hattifattener at 11:06 PM on September 26, 2006

I used to use Turbo Pascal when I was learning to program 16 bit assembly - the inline assembler was particularly easy to use.

They've released the 'C' equivalent as freeware...
posted by Jon Mitchell at 11:35 PM on September 26, 2006

Borland Turbo C 2.01 is free and "Supports inline assembly".

I only used Turbo C up to 1.5, myself, but I'd imagine the later version is just as good.
posted by majick at 11:36 PM on September 26, 2006

Look here, I can't tell if DeSmet generates 16-bit.
posted by orthogonality at 11:39 PM on September 26, 2006

If you want something a bit more modern, OpenWatcom has a 16-bit target mode, but I think the compiler itself is 32 bit code (or it was last I looked at it years ago).

If you want something even more old-school, there's DeSmet C, but I don't remember if it supports inline asm.

I vaguely remember LCC having asm support.

I don't know anything about Pacific C apart from that it's free.
posted by majick at 11:48 PM on September 26, 2006

Ya'll know about sourceforge.net I assume/hope
posted by prodevel at 6:10 AM on September 27, 2006

perl does this too, apparently... I'll take the hit for not being C.

http://www.perlmonks.com/?node_id=50182
posted by prodevel at 6:16 AM on September 27, 2006

DJGPP is a DOS port of GCC that I used to use quite religiously. By default it generates 32-bit code, but it also has 16-bit tools. For inline assembly, it uses NASM, which also works great.
posted by atomly at 4:31 AM on September 28, 2006