BUDDENBERGRA@USC-ISI.ARPA (Rex Buddenberg) (07/30/85)
TURBO-MODULA-II IS NEARLY HERE
For those of you who wanted a large-program, modern,
structured language in a usable implementation, for REAL
computers (Z80 types, 8088's need not apply), there is hope.
Allow me to present the evidence.
This past weekend, I had the priviledge of attending SOG-IV,
Dave Thompson's (MicroCornucopia) annual picnic and computerists
whing-ding. Philippe Kahn didn't make it this year, but sent
Mike Weisert, one of Borland's programmers instead. Mike's topic
was "Intro to Modula-II & the Borland Implementation". After
comparing and contrasting Pascal and Modula for a while, he got
to the important points: how Borland was building the compiler.
Selected tidbits (those that my brain retained):
- The compiler actually exists. Mike had a Kaypro with the
compiler up and running. The top menu looks (strangely) like the
Turbo-Pascal menu. The editor is the same too. Borland is
adhering to the Rev-3 Modula specification.
- Because Modula has separate compilation as part of the
compiler specification rather than part of the implementation,
the compiler compiles to disk. Sorry, no in-RAM compilation.
The top menu also directly calls the linker.
The demo program used some
familiar modules adapted from the Turbo-tools
ACCESS.BOX package, so I expect to see them available too.
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Dates weren't
mentioned, but the product demo was real enough to convince me
that this wasn't vapor.
The CPM version was the one shown. The MS-DOS version is not
nearly as far along and Mike offered no prognostication regarding
its availability. 8088 owners...suffer! Mike wouldn't quote a
specific price, but said "under $100".
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