Lattice C
| Company type | Software |
|---|---|
| Industry | Computer software |
| Founded | June 1982 |
| Founder | Lifeboat Associates |
| Products | C compiler |
The Lattice C Compiler, introduced in June 1982 by Lifeboat Associates, holds the distinction of being the inaugural C compiler designed for the IBM Personal Computer. Offered at a price of $500, it operated on PC DOS or MS-DOS, demanding 96KB of RAM and initially requiring a single floppy disk drive. Subsequently, it was adapted to run on various systems such as MVS, VMS, Unix, OS/2, Amiga, Atari ST, and Sinclair QL.
Before launching their proprietary compiler in April 1985 (Microsoft C Compiler 3.0), Microsoft distributed a repackaged version known as Microsoft C version 2.0 under a licensing agreement. In 1987, the acquisition of Lattice by SAS Institute led to its rebranding as SAS/C. Following this transition, development efforts concentrated largely on IBM mainframe environments; support for other platforms declined, with the remaining versions functioning primarily as cross compilers generating code for mainframes.
Significantly, early commercial software for the IBM PC, including titles like Perfect Writer, PerfectCalc, PerfectSpeller, and PerfectFiler, were ported from CP/M to MS-DOS utilizing Lattice C. These applications were commonly bundled with hardware such as the Seequa Chameleon and products from Columbia Data Products. The software suite also featured additional utilities, including:
- LMK, a utility for automating builds (make)
- LSE, a screen-oriented text editor
- TMN, a collection of text management tools
Reception
In a 1983 evaluation comparing five C compilers for the IBM PC, BYTE recognized Lattice C as the top choice within the "high-quality but costly and not beginner-friendly" segment, emphasizing its rapid compilation and execution speeds, compact incremental code generation, superior documentation, and dependable performance. Similarly, PC Magazine commended Lattice C for its documentation quality and efficiency, noting it slightly outperformed competitors such as CI-C86 and c-systems C compilers.
External links
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- Note: As of 2023, the website lattice.com belongs to an unrelated company