NCOHEN@IBM.COM (Norman COHEN) (03/09/88)
I called Borland International today, and a customer-service representative denied that there are any plans for a Turbo Ada (or TurboADA or anything of the kind). The recently released version 4.0 of Turbo Pascal offers many Ada-like and Modula-2-like extensions, which may have led to the rumor. (The extensions include separately compiled units with distinct interface and implementation sections. Like Ada packages, Turbo Pascal 4.0 units can be given initialization code that will be executed before the main program gets control. Of course none of the syntax is compatible with Ada. Indeed, the Turbo Pascal 4.0 equivalent of the Ada WITH clause is something called the USES clause. Given that the Pascal WITH statement allows a programmer to use names of the form X in place of names of the form Y.X, just like an Ada USE clause, the Turbo Pascal 4.0 programmer should be thoroughly confused when he tries to learn Ada!)