QuickC is one of three Microsoft programming languages with IDEs of this type marketed in the same period, the other two beingQuickBasic[4] andQuickPascal.[5][6] QuickBasic later gave rise toVisual Basic as well as being included without a linker asQBasic in later versions of MS-DOS, replacingGW-BASIC. QuickC is a lineal ancestor ofVisual C++.[6][7][8][9][10] The three Quick language implementations were designed for power users (as opposed to professional developers, whom Microsoft supplied with programming languages in the form of expensive and more comprehensive implementations for the three languages in question as well asC++,Fortran, andCobol) and educational use; in all three cases their major competitor wasBorland with its Turbo compiler series.[11]Microsoft Macro Assembler also competes with Borland'sTurbo Assembler[12]
QuickC was a real mode target only compiler, with the exception ofQuickC for Windows 1.0 which also allowed to compile protected mode programs, but only for Windows.[citation needed]
QuickC 1.0, released in October 1987.[13][14] It implements the ANSI C standard and is Microsoft C 5.0 compatible.[15]CodeView is also supported.[16] The release had known compatibility issues withWD HDD controllers.[17]
QuickC 1.01
QuickC 2.0, released in January 1989.[18][19][20] New features included: incremental compiling and linking, improved compilation speed, built-in assembler and support for all memory models.[21] It wasMicrosoft C 5.1 compatible.[22]
QuickC 2.01, released in June 1989.[23] Quick Assembler was included in this release.[24] It was Microsoft Source Profiler compatible.[25]
QuickC 2.51, released in December 1990 (Only available with the bundled Assembler)
QuickC for Windows 1.0, released in September 1991.[1][27] It was the first integrated development environment (IDE) for C on Windows[28] and was also available in a bundle with Microsoft C 6.0 and Windows SDK.[29] The IDE made use of some undocumentedWindows API calls.[30][31] It was still possible to target DOS with this version, but these DOS programs were limited to real mode programs.[citation needed]
