* JEFF FOY writes to ROWAN CROWE, on Saturday September 21 1996
   at 21:42:
 RC>> For 25 bucks what do you expect? It's basically a 'tease' to get
 RC>> you to buy PowerBASIC. It's more than sufficient for most
 RC>> people's needs, especially those just starting out -- hence the
 RC>> name FirstBASIC.
 JF> Considering that a "base" system these days is a '486, I would expect
 JF> a $25 to create '386 code. But that's me....
There's really little advantage to creating 386+ code in a real mode 16 bit 
DOS environment. If you're handling a lot of LONGs (32 bits), then it can 
create much tighter and faster code, but I can't think off the top of my head 
where it would help elsewhere.
BTW, I don't really see why a compiler should necessarily follow what people 
consider an entry level computer *today*, since they're all backward 
compatible with the 8086 anyway.
You should also bear in mind that FirstBASIC is based on (I think) PowerBASIC 
2.1, which is not exactly new.
Cheers.
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