[comp.lang.pascal] ISO compatible Pascal sought

andrew@.uucp (441F0650.A000F5B8) (08/30/89)

From: andrew@ux.cs.man.ac.uk (441F0650.A000F5B8)
Path: uk.ac.man.cs.ux!andrew
Newsgroups: comp.lang.pascal
Subject: Help wanted on ISO PC Pascal
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Sender: andrew@ux.cs.man.ac.uk
Reply-To: andrew@.uucp (441F0650.A000F5B8)
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Organization: Manchester University
Keywords: ISO compatible pascal wanted

 I am trying to port a large program in Pascal to an IBM PC.  ( The program
has already been ported successfully to apollos, suns and vaxen.)  At the 
moment I am using Turbo Pascal version 4 and have run into a major problem: 
the array size is limited to an upper bound of 256 where as the program uses
arrays upto 1000. For reasons of compatability with the versions of the program
on other machines, I am trying to keep the Pascal as "standard" as possible.

Can anyone recommend a Pascal compiler for IBM PCs which does not have this 
"feature"?  I would prefer if it was ISO standard especially with respect 
to file buffer handling (get and put).

Thanks in advance for any help,

                              Andrew Simm. 

filbo@gorn.santa-cruz.ca.us (Bela Lubkin) (08/30/89)

In article <6464@ux.cs.man.ac.uk> andrew@ux.cs.man.ac.uk writes:
> I am trying to port a large program in Pascal to an IBM PC.  ( The program
>has already been ported successfully to apollos, suns and vaxen.)  At the 
>moment I am using Turbo Pascal version 4 and have run into a major problem: 
>the array size is limited to an upper bound of 256 where as the program uses
>arrays upto 1000.
Turbo Pascal arrays are not limited to a bound of 256.  Why do you say that?
Any individual variable cannot exceed 64K bytes in size, however.  Are you
trying to use a 1000 by 1000 array of characters?  You would be limited to
256x256, which sort of matches what you say.

Remember that MS-DOS addressible memory is generally limited to 640K, perhaps a
limit of 580K for your program.  If your variables won't fit into that space,
you'll need to go to disk.  If they will, you need to use heap structures.  For
instance, a declaration of

  Var Stuff: Array [1..1000,1..1000] Of Char;

could be changed to

  Type StuffLine=Array [1..1000] Of Char;
  Var Stuff: Array [1..1000] Of ^StuffLine;

Of course you'd need to make a lot of source changes, exactly what you're trying
to avoid.  It's not clear that you'll be >able< to avoid it on any PC compiler,
though.  I don't even think there >is< an ISO-standard Pascal for the PC.

Bela Lubkin     * *   filbo@gorn.santa-cruz.ca.us   CIS: 73047,1112
     @        * *     ...ucbvax!ucscc!gorn!filbo    ^^^  REALLY slow [months]
R Pentomino     *     Filbo @ Pyrzqxgl (408) 476-4633 & XBBS (408) 476-4945

winfave@dutrun.UUCP (Alexander Verbraeck) (08/30/89)

In article <6464@ux.cs.man.ac.uk> andrew@.uucp (441F0650.A000F5B8) writes:
> I am trying to port a large program in Pascal to an IBM PC.  ( The program
>has already been ported successfully to apollos, suns and vaxen.)  At the 
>moment I am using Turbo Pascal version 4 and have run into a major problem: 
>the array size is limited to an upper bound of 256 where as the program uses
>arrays upto 1000. For reasons of compatability with the versions of the program
>on other machines, I am trying to keep the Pascal as "standard" as possible.
>
What do you mean with a maximum array size of 256? A statement like

type
  largearray = array[1..10000] of integer;

is no problem at all in  Turbo Pascal as far as I know. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Alexander Verbraeck                            e-mail:
Delft University of Technology                 winfave@hdetud1.bitnet
Department of Information Systems              winfave@dutrun.uucp
PO Box 356, 2600 AJ  The Netherlands
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chris@tadhg.newcastle.ac.uk (Chris Forker - Nav Arch-) (08/30/89)

In article <13.filbo@gorn.santa-cruz.ca.us> filbo@gorn.santa-cruz.ca.us (Bela Lubkin) writes:
>In article <6464@ux.cs.man.ac.uk> andrew@ux.cs.man.ac.uk writes:
stuff deleted
>
>Of course you'd need to make a lot of source changes, exactly what you're trying
>to avoid.  It's not clear that you'll be >able< to avoid it on any PC compiler,
>though.  I don't even think there >is< an ISO-standard Pascal for the PC.
>
>Bela Lubkin     * *   filbo@gorn.santa-cruz.ca.us   CIS: 73047,1112
>     @        * *     ...ucbvax!ucscc!gorn!filbo    ^^^  REALLY slow [months]
>R Pentomino     *     Filbo @ Pyrzqxgl (408) 476-4633 & XBBS (408) 476-4945

Try giving PRO PASCAL ( PROSPERO SOFTWARE ) a go. It is ISO validated and
meets the level 0 requirements of ISO 7185. I think they just opened an office
somewere in the US. They will send out a demo disc on request.

The address in England is :-

		Prospero Software Ltd.
		190 Castelnau
		London SW13 9DH

Hope this helps

Chris..


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