PETERSEN@ctrvx1.Vanderbilt.Edu (Chris Petersen - VUCC) (07/01/89)
From: IN%"afoiani@dante.nmsu.edu" "Anthony Foiani" 30-JUN-1989 17:50:38.96
[look at what turbo does have]
graphics (which you would need to write and interface)
integrated environment (lotsa luck with generic software...)
fast compile/execute, with no need to muck w/ LINK etc.
small overhead (v5.0 is only 160k... v3.1, which is suitable for
education purposes, is only about 40k)
easy commands (v5 has menus, v3 command keys...)
industry base. (I am relatively sure that Turbo has more purchasers
than MS Pascal, IBM Pascal, etc...)
Graphics? Which obey no standard and are better left for some
other course which could dwell on graphics as a subject unto
itself...
Integrated environment? This gets in the way of teaching the
language underlying the product, and becomes something else
which both instructor and student must spend time and brain-
power on...
Fact compile and execute? Granted, this is a plus.
No LINK? This does not look like what most of the world does
when they compile, so I think you're doing the student a dis-
service by not making them familiar with it...
Easy commands and menus? Tell someone s/he is computer literate
because s/he can use menus and a mouse and you will make that
person a laughing stock if s/he interviews with a company that
doesn't do those things yet (as if, perhaps, they were an IBM
mainframe shop?)...
Industry base? So what? That is like arguing that the only
Pascal compiler you have to know is the one on IBM 370-series
machines because they dominate some sectors of the market...
These also, are only thoughts and I invite rebuttal to me
personally if it really doesn't concern Pascal, or to the list
if it *REALLY* does... I have jus borken my own rules, it
seems, but maybe this is really about Pascal after all...
-Chris Petersen
Vanderbilt University
petersen@ctrvax.vanderbilt.edu
petersen@vuctrvx1.bitnet
P.S. Sorry for un-NET-iquette and any typos, but I working
from home on a crappy, stone-age terminal in an unfamiliar
editor...acm9@apple.ucsb.edu (Mike O'Brien) (07/01/89)
In article <20160@adm.BRL.MIL> PETERSEN@ctrvx1.Vanderbilt.Edu (Chris Petersen - VUCC) writes: >From: IN%"afoiani@dante.nmsu.edu" "Anthony Foiani" 30-JUN-1989 17:50:38.96 >Integrated environment? This gets in the way of teaching the >language underlying the product, and becomes something else >which both instructor and student must spend time and brain- >power on... On the contrary, the integrated environment makes things alot easier on the first-time programmer. I'm not saying they'll never have to learn command-line compiling, but why complicate things when they're first learning to program? I recently taught a friend how to program using Turbo Pascal, and she was VERY grateful for the integrated environment. Especially the help key. In TP5, you can put the cursor on any instruction in your program and press CTRL-F1 and get a description of that instruction. Even better, when you get a compile- time error, you can press F1 and it will give suggestions to what you might have done wrong. Now that is some teaching aid! >Industry base? So what? That is like arguing that the only >Pascal compiler you have to know is the one on IBM 370-series >machines because they dominate some sectors of the market... Yes, but if you're going to learn Pascal programming under MS-DOS, why not use the Pascal compiler that most businesses use under MS-DOS? I mean, no sense in going into job interviews and saying, "Sorry, I only know Aztec Pascal." When you switch to a different operating system, learning the differences in Pascal versions is going to be the least of your worries... Mike O'Brien acm9@cornu.ucsb.edu