Pascal Re: [Coco] Expert C programmer wanted

[Willard Goosey]

>X-Original-To: coco at lists5.maltedmedia.com
>From: KnudsenMJ at aol.com
>Date: Tue, 8 Feb 2005 23:52:43 EST

>Sounds as if the Coco OS-9 Pascal sold thru Radio Shack had a library
>that didn't include this *vital* call.  In other words, it wasn't
>properly "ported" to OS-9; leaving out the _os9() function means
>you're locked in the high-level straight-jacket.
> 
Ever read Kernighan's "Why Pascal Is Not My Favorite Programming
Language"?  

One small part relevant to this conversation:
[
...The language is inadequate but circumscribed, because there is no
way to escape its limitations. .... The language is closed.

People who use Pascal for serious programming fall into a fatal trap.
Because the language is impotent, it must be extended.  But each group
extends Pascal in its own direction....  all add to the utility of the
language for one group but destroy its portability to others.
]

I've used Turbo Pascal under MS-DOS and CP/M, the HP-UX and SunOS
compilers, and the OS-9 Pascal compiler.  They aren't very portable
with each other.

BTW the OS-9 Pacal compiler has seperate compilation and can link in
properly done assembly subroutines.  So you can get to the OS-9 system
calls.  

Willard
-- 
Willard Goosey  goosey at sdc.org
Socorro, New Mexico, USA
"I've never been to Contempt!  Isn't that somewhere in New Mexico?"
   --- Yacko