TITLE

    Oberon-A

VERSION

    Release 1

AUTHOR

    Frank Copeland -- oberon@wossname.apana.org.au

DESCRIPTION

    Oberon-A is a freely-distributable Oberon-2 compiler. Oberon-2 is a
    modern object-oriented language designed by Niklaus Wirth, the creator
    of Pascal and Modula-2, and Hanspeter Mvssenbvck. Oberon-A is an
    implementation of the language for the Amiga computer, ported from a
    compiler written by Niklaus Wirth.

    The archive contains the compiler, a pre-link utility, a linker (BLink)
    and a programmer's environment.  A complete interface to the Amiga
    operating system (version 2.04) and a collection of library modules in
    source code form is provided. Documentation is in AmigaGuide and plain
    ASCII formats. The full source code for the compiler and utilities is
    available in a seperate archive.

    Release 1 is a preliminary release with a limited module library and
    requires testing.

FEATURES

    - The compiler directly generates MC68000 machine code in standard
      AmigaDOS format object files.
    - Both ALink and BLink can be used to link object modules and support
      for other linkers will be progressively added.
    - A garbage collector for memory (with some limitations) is built in to
      the run-time support code.
    - Language extensions include:
      - Escaped characters in strings (big deal :-));
      - Support for BCPL and C pointers.
      - Inline calls to Amiga system libraries;
      - Vararg parameters to pass tag lists to Amiga library calls (next
        update).
    - The compiler is currently CLI-only, but a programmer's environment
      utility provides Workbench access.
    - Interactive and batch compilation is supported.

SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS

    Oberon-A requires 1MB of memory and a hard disk is strongly recommended.
    A text editor is required and must be obtained seperately.

HOST NAME

    Oberon-A has been uploaded to AmiNet.  It is available from
    ftp.wustl.edu, archie.au and other AmiNet sites.

DIRECTORY

    ftp.wustl.edu:/pub/aminet/dev/obero
    archie.au:/pub/micros/amiga/aminet/dev/obero

FILE NAMES

    Oberon-A_1.x.lha
    Oberon-A_1.x_src.lha

    x is the update number, currently 2.

PRICE

    Kind words to the author :-)

DISTRIBUTABILITY

    Freeware, distributed under the GNU General Public License and the GNU
    Library General Public License.