bobd@dshovax.UUCP (01/21/87)
The draft proposed Extended Pascal standard has been released for public comment by the Joint ANSI/IEEE Pascal Committee (JPC). The purpose of the public comment period is to improve the draft proposed standard by getting comments from outside of JPC. JPC has already gathered public comment on different features, but now all the features are together in one language specification. If you wish to comment, you should obtain a copy from the contact below, and send in your comments NO LATER than May 2, 1987, when the period ends. The Extended Pascal standard is intended to be upward compatible with the existing Pascal standards. The features added include modularity and separate compilation, dynamic generation of size and types of variables (schemata), improved file and string handling, direct access files, value initialization, relaxed order of declaration, constant expressions, structured value constructors, ranges and "otherwise" in case statements and variant records, set extensions, non-decimal numbers, complex numbers, date and time functions, and underscores in identifiers. ISO level 1 (conformant arrays) is also included, for compatibility with the ISO Pascal Standard. JPC is required to respond to all comments. Your comments will have much more impact, however, if you back them up with explanation. Just saying "I like feature xyz" or "I don't like it" won't help JPC change the situation. In case you're interested, there has been a great deal more cooperation this time around for international standardization. Assuming everyone continues to cooperate as well as they have been so far, the ISO and ANSI/IEEE standards for Extended Pascal will be identical. To obtain a copy of the draft proposed Extended Pascal standard, contact Global Engineering Documents, Inc., by calling 1-800-854-7179. Single copy price is $35.00. Bob Dietrich (503) 681-2158 tektronix!reed!omssw2!dshovax!bobd