OF INTEREST

New from Aggregate Computing is NetMake, a distributed, parallel version of the UNIX make utility. NetMake lets you compile individual source files on separate machines on a network: it sends the files to the most appropriate remote machine, compiles them in parallel, and collects the results on one machine to perform linking. Thus, you can compile faster using NetMake than you can by running make on a single machine. Version 1.1 includes Highland Software's floating license manager, automated installation and configuration, and greater parallelization for improved speed.

Prices start at $2500.00. Reader service no. 20.

Aggregate Computing Inc.

5217 Wayzata Blvd., Suite 125

Minneapolis, MN 55416

612-546-5579

Gimpel Software has released C-Vision, a set of tools for analyzing, understanding, and maintaining C source code. Included in the package are a cross referencer, a function-call diagrammer, a source code reformatter, and a source code lister.

The cross referencer provides symbol descriptions that include symbol-usage information--definition/declaration, assignment to, taking the address of, and so on--and type information. The tree diagrammer uses a precompiled database of your program modules and shows different views of your program's functions based on a call graph; subtrees can be shown either directed away from functions or into functions or data. The lister prints outlined listings of C source, with attention to handling of preprocessor conditionals, and the customizable reformatter deals with source code and comments.

C-Vision runs under DOS or OS/2 and costs $139.00. Reader service no. 21.

Gimpel Software

3207 Hogarth Lane

Collegeville, PA 19426

215-584-4261

C-Debug, Softran's C-language debugging program, is now available for VAX/VMS and OS/2 platforms. C-Debug offers comprehensive searches, and can even specify if the program is corrupting its own memory. It catches errors before the application dies, providing a detailed description of the errors' location and nature. In most situations, C-Debug runs with almost no additional programming.

Also available is C-Verify, a companion program that improves quality-assurance by identifying program areas missed during testing.

C-Debug can also be used with DOS and most UNIX systems. It comes ready to use with 12 popular C compilers and can be customized to work with others. C-Debug prices range from $249.00 to $995.00; C-Verify costs $395.00. Reader service no. 26.

Softran Corp.

One Naperville Plaza

Naperville, IL 60563

800-462-3932 or 708-505-3456

ProVoice is First Byte's new toolkit for adding synthesized speech to any DOS application. ProVoice uses First Byte's Speech Engine to produce high-quality, synthesized speech from strings of text, numbers, and data. Text is converted to speech in two phases using a set of phonetic translation and pronunciation rules. First, the software analyzes and translates text into sound descriptors, a phonetic language that includes the pitch, duration, and amplitude codes that produce stress patterns in phrases and sentences. The second phase converts the intermediate phonetic language into speech signals; algorithms transform distinct speech signals into continuous, clear speech. Unlike digitized speech, synthesized speech processes text into words and sentences internally, using a user-editable dictionary and English grammar rules.

The toolkit provides source code bindings to the ProVoice Speech Engine for Microsoft C, Turbo C++, Turbo Pascal, Turbo Assembler, and MASM; sample source code is provided to illustrate speech programming techniques in all these languages. For optimum speech output, First Byte highly recommends a sound accessory, and ProVoice supports many, including AdLib, Sound Blaster, Covox Speech Thing, and others. The suggested retail price is $595.00. Reader service no. 23.

New from Valois Software is Vsearch, a BRIEF enhancement that provides disk-wide, multifile, multipattern search and replace capabilities. Vsearch is fully integrated with BRIEF and supports drive/directory/file wildcards and writes output reports. It can also run in batch mode and undo all file changes. Vsearch is targeted at developers who make multiple changes to many files, increasing their productivity by eliminating repetitive editing and improving reliability.

DDJ spoke with David Bechtel, associate engineer at Mountain Network Solutions in Scotts Valley, California, who was enthusiastic about Vsearch. "The feature I use the most is Vsearch's ability to make global changes to several modules and conditions within those modules, and undo those changes if necessary. It also gives you a good summary report of all modules and strings modified." Bechtel liked Vsearch's ability to generate file directory listings within brief, which can then be used as pattern files for future Vsearch operations. He concluded that, "it's a fantastic product, but I would like to see more detailed examples of its advanced features."

Vsearch's list price is $89.00. Reader service no. 24.

Valois Software Inc.

2237 Cecilia Avenue

San Francisco, CA 94116-1832

415-759-0911

MINC is offering programmable logic users a free toolkit for comparing PLD, CPLD, and FPGA synthesis tools. The utility generates random Boolean equations that can be produced in the format required as input for most popular universal programmable logic tools. The user controls generation of the random equations through a number of parameters entered in the utility. Parameters include: the number of outputs, buried outputs, and inputs; the maximum number of product terms and inputs in any single equation; the percent of equations registered; and the number of clocks available for register assignments. Given a set of input parameters, identical designs are produced across all output formats, allowing you to make a fair and accurate comparison between design tools.

MINC encourages users to conduct their own benchmark evaluations and send in the results. MINC will periodically distribute the aggregate results of these studies. To receive the toolkit, call MINC and request the "BENCHKIT." Reader service no. 25.

MINC Inc.

6755 Earl Drive

Colorado Springs, CO 80918

800-755-3742

The Snooper, a software-based protocol analyzer for Ethernet networks, is now available from General Software. The Snooper, which runs on any PC, captures live traffic on Ethernet networks and saves the captured packets for analysis through summary, hexadecimal, or decoded protocol displays.

The Snooper is actually a source-code toolkit that allows programmers to build custom protocol analyzers for additional protocols used by application software. It comes with free drivers (including source) for popular Ethernet host adapters such as Novell-compatible NE1000 and NE2000 boards and boards from 3Com, IBM, and others.

Protocol support is provided for Novell Netware file-sharing protocols, Microsoft LAN Manager protocols, and IBM LAN Server protocols.

The Snooper retails for $350.00. Reader service no. 22.

General Software Inc.

P.O. Box 2571

Redmond, WA 98073

206-391-4285

Frontier Software has released FS:pascal 2.0, a 32-bit protected-mode Pascal compiler that generates native 32-bit code. FS:pascal eliminates runtime memory limitations and lets you use available extended memory. Absent also is the 64K segment-size limit set by real-mode programs; thus, variables and arrays can be as large as available RAM.

Over 250 new library routines have been added to the package, including a mouse library that works in both text and graphics modes and a screen design library with scroll-bar menus and save- and restore-screen routines. By taking advantage of 32-bit registers, FS:pascal can create executables that run faster than those created by real-mode compilers.

FS:pascal is fully compatible with Turbo Pascal, including the BGI graphics interface. The built-in DOS extender is automatically linked in with every program. There are no royalty fees or license agreements, and the retail price is $149.95. Reader service no. 27.

Frontier Software

66-22 Fleet Street, Suite 2C

Forest Hills, NY 11375

800-934-FSDC

The Professional Toolkit for Visual Basic from Microsoft provides a single-source solution for a variety of Windows-based applications. The toolkit has many new features, first of which is object linking and embedding (OLE), which lets you create applications that combine spreadsheets, word processing, graphics, and other OLE server functionality into customized applications. The tool-kit also supports pen-based computing: It includes controls to create text boxes that can hold pen input as an ink data type or provide automatic access to the pen recognition engine. Multimedia developers can write applications for Windows Multimedia Extensions, including animation and audio.

Also included are graphing capabilities with ten charting styles; grids for presenting tabular data with resizable rows, columns, and scroll bars; multiple document interfaces (MDI) for creating applications with multiple child windows contained in a single parent form; 15 new controls, including 3-D interface components, animated buttons, gauges, spin buttons, and access to commonly used dialog boxes; the Windows help compiler for creating custom online Windows help files; the Windows API online reference; a set-up kit; and a custom-control development kit.

The Professional Toolkit for Visual Basic costs $299.00; with Visual Basic, $495.00. Reader service no. 28.

Microsoft Corp.

One Microsoft Way

Redmond, WA 98052-6399

206-882-8080