abcscnuk@csunb.csun.edu (Naoto Kimura (ACM)) (02/07/91)
Some hilights (I'm not too clear on what stuff was in versions earlier
than 3.0).
1.0 CP/M version
2.0 IBM version
Some goodies, like text windowing.
3.0
Overlays were introduced (or was that version 2.0...)
4.0
Revised integrated environment, now has online help.
Command line version of compiler (yay!)
Some MODULA-2ish extensions to Turbo Pascal:
Units -- allows separate compilation of portions of program.
Also allows data and code hiding. Transparent
initialization and exit code now possible. Units have two
logical sections: an INTERFACE section showing the
declarations visible to external unit files; and an
IMPLEMENATION section which has all the internal and
hidden stuff.
Some limited ability to do type-casting.
New types of variables available WORD, LONGINT, POINTER
New INTERRUPT directive, allows making ISR's in Turbo Pascal.
String can now be used alone without specifying length --
equivalent to string[255]
"Smart" linker -- strips unused code (yay!)
Some restrictions placed on include files -- only a minor nusiance.
Now you can link in OBJ files w/o creating COM files from them --
saves on headaches caused by accidentally running them.
The specialized file variables con,aux,prn disappear along with the
special function pointers. New feature of installable text file
device drivers appears their its place. Much cleaner than with
version 3.0
BGI graphics -- allows programs to be independent of graphics
display hardware. Also support for stroked fonts, which can be
resized and not suffer from blockiness when enlarged. Snooping
around in the GRAPH.TPU file also reveals that it supports a few
font files not distributed with Turbo Pascal (but they happen to
be packaged along with Quattro). Same is also true with Turbo
C version 2.0
EXE files instead of COM files, but no more overlays :-(
IDE installation much cleaner with revised TINST.. Much easier to
reset keyboard mappings.
Manual has grown to monstrous proportions.
Other goodies include MAKE (works much better than Microsoft's),
GREP, and TOUCH. Included also is README, a file browse
utility included to allow you to browse through the README.DOC
file, but comes in handy for other files too.
5.0 (released less than half year after release of 4.0)
Numeric coprocessor emulation now available.
Limited circular unit references are now allowed.
Revised integrated environment -- that strange gaping "hole" in the
menu bar filled in with debugger options. Support for external
debugger.
Overlays come back!! Now they act on the unit level instead of
the procedure level -- much cleaner than with version 3.0
BGI enhanced to allow installation of 3rd party BGI drivers and
stroked fonts.
Type casting extended -- now they can appear on left hand side of
assignments.
Procedural types -- allows passing of procedures and functions as
parameters.
Manual split into two pieces -- a "User's guide" and "Reference
guide."
Installation program now included, simplifying installation. Some
of the files on the original diskettes are in ARC files.
Snooping around UNPACK.COM file reveals it to be version 3.5
of PKXARC, though slightly modified.
5.5 OOP enhancements
OOP stuff added.
procedures added to GRAPH.TPU, like FillEllipse
Most of the differences were summarized in the OOP guide (which was
by the way, the only difference as far as printed documentation
goes).
Help file now has examples in it -- also cut/paste ability from
help file.
Included in disks is a program called TPTOUR, which gives a quick
introduction to using the IDE.
6.0
Multi-window environment introduced
* Mouse support -- IDE nearly screams for one.
* NO MORE %&^%*&% ^Z at the end of text file!! (finally!)
* TINST no longer needed -- all configuration parameters
settable from IDE.
* Files are no longer in ARC files -- now they're ZIPped.
Turbo Vision -- class library.
* Included is one major program using it -- the IDE itself!
* Now gives incentive to start looking into OOP
Extended syntax allows calling functions as procedures (for all
those C programmers who liked casting things into void, I
guess)
Inline assembly!
Nearly 700K of help file. Reorganized and includes better index.
CHR files now contain characters > chr(127), revealing the fact
that they extended the default font buffer (if you tried to use
the fonts that came along with the BGI toolkit, you'll find to
your dismay that all but one font will load properly in earlier
versions -- because the default buffer was too small).
Manuals are now bound in such a manner so that they now stay open
when you put them down on a flat surface. You no longer have
to crack the spine to do this.
Manuals have been reorganized again. The documentation seems a lot
more condensed.
//-n-\\ Naoto Kimura
_____---=======---_____ (abcscnuk@csuna.csun.edu)
====____\ /.. ..\ /____====
// ---\__O__/--- \\ Enterprise... Surrender or we'll
\_\ /_/ send back your *&^$% tribbles !!dconway@hpldsla.sid.hp.com (Dan Conway) (02/09/91)
abcscnuk@csunb.csun.edu (Naoto Kimura (ACM)) writes: > Some hilights (I'm not too clear on what stuff was in versions earlier > than 3.0). . . . > 3.0 > Overlays were introduced (or was that version 2.0...) Overlays were introduced in version 2.0. Dan Conway dconway@hpldsln.sid.hp.com
lucrezi@univaq.sublink.org (Gino Lucrezi) (02/13/91)
In article <1991Feb7.074512.3990@csun.edu>, abcscnuk@csunb.csun.edu (Naoto Kimura (ACM)) writes: > Some hilights (I'm not too clear on what stuff was in versions earlier > than 3.0). > > 1.0 CP/M version > > 2.0 IBM version > > Some goodies, like text windowing. > > 3.0 > > Overlays were introduced (or was that version 2.0...) Version 2 and 3 were released for CP/M, too. In the CP/M version, overlays were added in 3.0. In 3.0 they also added New and Dispose - it's not a joke! In 2.0 and earlier they just had the *$%#@! Mark and Release. Notice that accordin to someone at Byte (I never could try out) early version of TP were quite slower than MS. But Borland kept making tests "with default options", which was hardly fair - MS by default did all possible checks, TP by default disabled ^C, range checking, recursion (YES!! you had to specify you wanted recursion!!!), and so on. BTW, I'm not sure that 1.0 and 2.0 allowed recursion anyway (I have read a 3.0 manual, sometime, and I am sure it has the flag to enable it). Well, I am really glad nowadays Turbo Pascal has almost no relation to those earlier releases.... -- Gino Lucrezi @ Universita` "V. Rivera" - L'Aquila - Italy SUBLINK: lucrezi@univaq.sublink.org FIDO: 2:335/408.1 2:335/307.4
dconway@hpldsla.sid.hp.com (Dan Conway) (02/23/91)
/ hpldsla:comp.lang.pascal / lucrezi@univaq.sublink.org (Gino Lucrezi) / 4:29 am Feb 13, 1991 / writes: > Version 2 and 3 were released for CP/M, too. > In the CP/M version, overlays were added in 3.0. > In 3.0 they also added New and Dispose - it's not a joke! > In 2.0 and earlier they just had the *$%#@! Mark and Release. New was available along with mark and release in 1.0 for CP/M. Dispose was added in 2.0 for CP/M; that was the main reason that I bought 2.0. > > Notice that accordin to someone at Byte (I never could try out) early version > of TP were quite slower than MS. > But Borland kept making tests "with default options", which was hardly fair - MS > by default did all possible checks, TP by default disabled ^C, range checking, > recursion (YES!! you had to specify you wanted recursion!!!), and so on. > BTW, I'm not sure that 1.0 and 2.0 allowed recursion anyway (I have read a 3.0 > manual, sometime, and I am sure it has the flag to enable it). > > Well, I am really glad nowadays Turbo Pascal has almost no relation to those > earlier releases.... The selection of default options by Borland could be annoying; they were optimizing for code size. I had at least one recursive program that did very strange things until I figured out what was wrong and set the compiler option for recursion appropriately. Recursion was available (by option) in both 1.0 and 2.0. > -- > Gino Lucrezi @ Universita` "V. Rivera" - L'Aquila - Italy > SUBLINK: lucrezi@univaq.sublink.org > FIDO: 2:335/408.1 2:335/307.4 > ---------- > As another poster pointed out, the entire compiler/editor environment was 27K on CP/M (for version 1.0, increased to a bit over 30K for 2.0). It was also FAST. I held on to my CP/M equipment for several years longer that I might have otherwise, due mainly to this product. Dan Conway dconway@hp-sde.sde.hp.com