lanin@csd2.UUCP (04/16/85)
{}
There are several things about Turbo Pascal which I dislike so much
that I avoid using it entirely (an acceptable option, at the price :-).
Examples include its dinky editor, strange I/O and dynamic
memory support, and others. One thing, however, stands out
especially: I have found no way of preventing a program
compiled under it from clearing the screen at the beginning
of execution, printing in high intensity characters, and sending
the cursor to the bottom of the screen at the end of execution.
These features are probably very nice for programs that use the screen
extensively, but are very annoying for something that should run silently.
Is there a way to tell Turbo not to clear the screen and leave the cursor
alone? Thanks in advance.
Vladimir Lanin
{ihnp4, allegra}!cmcl2!csd2!lanin
*********
...let's make it easy on ourselves and write it in assembler...holland@gondor.UUCP (04/18/85)
> {} > > There are several things about Turbo Pascal which I dislike so much > that I avoid using it entirely (an acceptable option, at the price :-). > Examples include its dinky editor, strange I/O and dynamic > memory support, and others. One thing, however, stands out > especially: I have found no way of preventing a program > compiled under it from clearing the screen at the beginning > of execution, printing in high intensity characters, and sending > the cursor to the bottom of the screen at the end of execution. > > These features are probably very nice for programs that use the screen > extensively, but are very annoying for something that should run silently. > Is there a way to tell Turbo not to clear the screen and leave the cursor > alone? Thanks in advance. > > Vladimir Lanin > {ihnp4, allegra}!cmcl2!csd2!lanin > > ********* > ...let's make it easy on ourselves and write it in assembler... I just got Turbo Pascal and can't understand your comments (dinky editor,...). It it a very practical editor (not included in most compilers) and in less than an hour had customized 45 editor commands to keys that I'm familiar with and set the screen using TINST to highlight and set the editor text to cyan (TI Pro). There were also prompts to change the terminal reset and cursor home sequences (to answer your question). Just read the manual about TINST. Fred Hollander Penn State
lanin@csd2.UUCP (04/25/85)
Since you say you just got Turbo, you must have version 3. The people who
were nice enough to respond to my query all say that version 3 fixes the
problems I spoke about.
To give you some background on my feelings toward Turbo, I originally bought
version 1, in which (at least in my copy) the key redefinition did not work
and there were other bugs as well. It was a great disappointment to me that
the designers of Turbo enforced their ideas on screen use on me, made it
impossible to use the compiler in a batch environment (which is useful if
you want to use your own editor), and chose to make their basic I/O
incompatible with the standard. I did not wish to keep trying and find
still other areas in which someone else's personal preferences were
enforced on me. These things made me turn to a slower, but
surer way of doing things, using my old C compiler and FinalWord word
processor, which give you the option to configure them to your wishes.
All of this does not mean that Turbo does not have very good features. The
speed, the simple but effective error handling, the easy interaction with
the editor are great. For me, the problems outweighed these advantages,
because I already had a working programming environment, and the Turbo could
not offer some other basic features, like object files.
In fact, the problems I pointed out were very unexpected,
because they are all so easy to fix. I thought other users would
have the same feelings and was very surprised when the package received
universal and unmixed applause.
Vladimir Lanin
{ihnp4, allegra}!cmcl2!csd2!lanin
P. S. Folks, please don't take my opinions as a personal insult.
I scorch easily.