>>Not true. Clipper still had support files that were needed.
>
>Clipper version 5 was a true native code compiler which made standard OBJ files which could be linked with other OBJ files, even those created with C or MASM, using any linker. It just so happened that you also had to link in the Clipper runtime library into the exe (which was already in native code). This is unlike VFP which is an interpreted language.

VFP (or any Fox before it) can be used as interpreter and/or compiler. It produces p-code, which is somewhat precompiled; don't know its structure (and it changes between versions), but I assume it contains some hooks for calling runtime routines, constants, vars and parameters. While this is not a native code compiler, it had some advantages
- the p-code is platform independent,
- runtime is a separate .dll, so it exists only once on the system, no matter whether you install one or ten apps
- you can edit&test in the same cycle - no need to run the whole edit->compile->link->test run cycle
- you can try most of the little tricks directly in the command window, no need to write a test program (and edit->compile->link->test just to try out some date calculation and such)
- debugging is much easier - you can suspend anytime and do whatever you want (how many times I paste some code from somewhere and then I see I forgot to open some table - I simply suspend, open, take a note at it, and continue, without any need to restart).

Native code? What for?