[jim_lawless]

I used to teach C Programming using the Power C compiler at a local community college. It was a nice enough compiler that the students then owned so that they could continue to experiment and learn.

I found a couple of things to not ring true in what I'd read about the compiler, though. There were issues around a lack of error messages when students would send incorrect parameters to a function. If I remember correctly, I think that one could transpose the arguments in a call to fprintf() so that the FILE * reference was not the first parameter. A few of my students put a format string at the front, a few parameters, and then the FILE *. I believe that the version of Power C that we were using did not flag this as invalid. I question the ANSI compliance claim because of this and a couple other odd issues.

The other thing that didn't really ring true was the often-quoted line about loving the book and throwing away the compiler. Really, the book wasn't that great, in my opinion.

I do believe that one received more than their $20 worth of value from the offering, though. It was a nice enough compiler with a decent book.