[comp.lang.pascal] Problems with Lightspeed Pascal 2.0

mb@rex.cs.tulane.edu (Mark Benard) (12/21/89)

I am having some problems with Lightspeed Pascal 2.0 and cannot get through
to the technical people at the number listed in the manual.  Can anyone tell
me if there is a patch or newer version that is available?  I am on Internet
and could pick up anything that is available via ftp.

The problems I am having are all associated with pointer errors.  When one of
my students misuses a pointer, it often corrupts the project so that the
project has to be completely reconstructed from scratch with new copies of
the libraries;  if it is not completely reconstructed, the rebuilt program
gives 'nil reference' errors even after the pointer errors have been
corrected.  Often it is even worse - the compiler itself is corrupted.  I did
not believe it when it first happened, but it has happened to me personally
on multiple machines with some erroneous programs.  Has anyone experienced
such errors?

If you can help me, please respond by mail.  I do not usually read this
newsgroup.
-- 
Mark Benard
Department of Computer Science     INTERNET & BITNET: mb@cs.tulane.edu
Tulane University                  USENET:   rex!mb
New Orleans, LA 70118

siegel@endor.harvard.edu (Rich Siegel) (12/23/89)

In article <1714@rex.cs.tulane.edu> mb@rex.cs.tulane.edu (Mark Benard) writes:
>
>The problems I am having are all associated with pointer errors.  When one of
>my students misuses a pointer, it often corrupts the project so that the
>project has to be completely reconstructed from scratch with new copies of
>the libraries;  if it is not completely reconstructed, the rebuilt program
>gives 'nil reference' errors even after the pointer errors have been
>corrected.  Often it is even worse - the compiler itself is corrupted.  I did

	Unfortunately, misuse of pointers on a non-memory-protected system
like the Mac will often cause havoc, and it's not an issue related to the 
compiler; if the programs were run in standalone mode, they could very
well corrupt the system or smash disk structures in irreparable ways.

	To protect yourself, you might try running THINK Pascal on a
hardware-locked disk; this would prevent it from getting smashed. I
can't think of any protection agains gratuitous use of bad pointers,
though.

R.

k


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Rich Siegel
 Staff Software Developer
 Symantec Corporation, Language Products Group
 Internet: siegel@endor.harvard.edu
 UUCP: ..harvard!endor!siegel

"When someone who makes four hundred and fifty dollars an hour wants to
tell you something for free, it's a good idea to listen."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

es2q+@andrew.cmu.edu (Erik Warren Selberg) (12/24/89)

Rich --

I have even MORE LSP problems for you...

#1: dispose() doesn't work... when disposing an object, it likes to go off into
never-never land... DisposPtr(ptr()) is a good work-around, but it would be nicedfor dispose to work.

#2: as far as I can tell, when using a filter in a modalDialog loop, stops
won't.  for example...
   repeat
      modalDialog(myDlog,someFilter);
     case itemhit of {that call to modalDialog was a bit screwy, btw}
     ...
     end;
   until itemhit=ok;

any stop in the loop won't.

#3: this is the most serious I've found (and I just found it today, too!).
I'm debuggin a monstrous dlog which uses pop-up menus, numerous edit texts,
and loads of other neat stuff.  What it is is a search dlog, and I'm using
objects as the different types of searches (search by int, by date, etc).  The problem I'm getting is that somewhere along the line LSP locks up.  The steps
I'm taking are...

I go through the DLOG no problem.
I then call GetDLOG() which grabs all the pertinent info.
GetDLOG calls each object's own GetDLOG() call, so they can handle it in their
own way.

the problem is when I set a stop point in the TSType.GetDLOG() call and pop
up either LightsBug or the Observe window, it locks up.

it you with, I'll mail some source to you (it's a 15K unit).
thanks much,

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