sqrkl@csvax.liv.ac.uk (02/19/88)
Has anyone seen a GOOD Pascal compiler for the Amiga yet ?
It MUST implement the following :
1) All the usual boring ISO stuff that no-one in their right mind uses.
2) longint data type as well as integer.
3) Ability to return ANY data type as the result of a function (this
includes strings...)
4) More than 32K of data can be declared in the VAR section. (This is
annoying restriction of Mac Turbo Pascal).
5) The + operator MUST be applicable to strings as well (I refuse to use
'concat' under ANY circumstances).
6) It must be fast at compiling (Mac Turbo Pascal has no link stage, so
it is extremely fast).
7) Proper dynamic length string handling.
8) Constant expressions (e.g. 2*fred where fred is a constant) allowed in
CONST and CASE sections.
9) It must compile directly to 68000 code - none of this p-code rubbish.
10) Nice WIMP environment for compiling - no cryptic CLI commands, please.
11) Of course, full support for Amiga facilities.
Mac Turbo Pascal fails on points 4) and 8) but is otherwise (sic) superb.
So c'mon you Amiga software companies (and Borland !!!) - get your fingers
out and write a compiler to the above specs...If you do, I will go against
my natural pirating tendencies and actually buy the thing !!!!!
Richard K. Lloyd SQRKL@UK.AC.LIV.CSVAX
"If the Atari ST, the biggest heap of dross in the universe, can have at
least SIX Pascal compilers written for it, why isn't there even ONE good one
for the Amiga ?"hcm@hpclla.HP.COM (Harry Muttart) (02/24/88)
> Has anyone seen a GOOD Pascal compiler for the Amiga yet ? > > It MUST implement the following : > ... > Richard K. Lloyd SQRKL@UK.AC.LIV.CSVAX > "If the Atari ST, the biggest heap of dross in the universe, can have at > least SIX Pascal compilers written for it, why isn't there even ONE good one > for the Amiga ?" Simple answer... 1) Good C implementations 2) Good Modula-2 implementations (Then there was the Metacomco Pascal (ghastly?)) Harry Muttart (Strictly my own opinions.)
ewhac@well.UUCP (Leo 'Bols Ewhac' Schwab) (02/25/88)
[ I'm running out of creative things to put here. ] Please enable your SMILEY_FACE bit while reading this posting. In article <405@csvax.liv.ac.uk> sqrkl@csvax.liv.ac.uk writes: >Has anyone seen a GOOD Pascal compiler for the Amiga yet ? > There is no such thing as a GOOD Pascal compiler. This is largely because, while C compilers are designed to generate code, Pascal compilers are designed to generate error messages. >"If the Atari ST, the biggest heap of dross in the universe, can have at >least SIX Pascal compilers written for it, why isn't there even ONE good one >for the Amiga ?" Because all the Real Programmers are on the Amiga, and Real Programmers use C or assembly. Strong typing is for people with weak memories, you know... _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ Leo L. Schwab -- The Guy in The Cape ihnp4!ptsfa -\ \_ -_ Recumbent Bikes: dual ---> !{well,unicom}!ewhac O----^o The Only Way To Fly. hplabs / (pronounced "AE-wack") "Work FOR? I don't work FOR anybody! I'm just having fun." -- The Doctor
duncanj@umd5.umd.edu (James Duncan) (02/26/88)
Is MetCompCo (?sp) Pascal the same as Amiga Pascal. I have Amiga Pascal version 1.0 (totally worhtless). Have there been any upgrades since 1.0. Since I sent in my registration card I should be eligible for upgrades but I haven't heard anything from Commodore. I bought this package at around $90, it is the single worst purchase I have ever made. I'd like to at least get a decent upgrade if available and inexpensive. So what about it? Anyone know? Also how come Borland has never come out with Turbo Pascal for the Amy? It was one of the very first products ever announced, but has never been published. WHy has Borland chosen to ignore the Amiga market. I think they could make lots of Turbo Pascal and Turbo C sales if they priced the products similar to the way they're priced for the Big blue clones, and the Macs. Jim Duncan
pooley@hplabsb.UUCP (Chuck Pooley) (02/27/88)
I recently received a letter from MCC regarding their Pascal product status. In regard to the next release of MCC Pascal for the Amiga they state.. "We are now working on the final stages of our next release of MCC Pascal for the Amiga. Unfortunately, we have not decided price or date of release . When we have this information I will let you know. In the meantime the following will give you some idea of what the new compiler offers. single and double precision floating point arithmetic full 32 bit pointers sequential and random access files dynamic strings conditional and separate compilation OTHERWISE in CASE statements binary, decimal, octal, and hexadecimal integer and character constants I/O error handling interface to graphics There will also be an improved manual." I would be glad to pass along any information I receive from MCC in future. FYI, Chuck Pooley HP Labs disclaim disclaim disclaim BTW: I received this letter sometime during this first or second week of Feb. 88.
hbo@hub.ucsb.edu (Howard Owen) (02/28/88)
In article <4567@hplabsb.UUCP> pooley@hplabsb.UUCP (Chuck Pooley) writes: >I recently received a letter from MCC regarding their Pascal product . >"We are now working on the final stages of our next release of MCC Pascal . >following will give you some idea of what the new compiler offers. >i . . > interface to graphics What does this mean? What about an interface to the rest of the ROM kernal? I recall that a big problem with MCC Pascal was it's lack of such an interface. >There will also be an improved manual." Not a very difficult goal to achieve. 8-) >FYI, Thanks! > >Chuck Pooley -- Howard Owen, Programmer/Analyst PHYSNET/HEPNET/SPAN: SBPHY::HBO Physics Computer Services internet: hbo@sbphy.ucsb.edu University of California, Santa Barbara bitnet: HBO@SBITP.BITNET "I am not a pay TV service!" PLink: HBO
peter@nuchat.UUCP (Peter da Silva) (02/28/88)
In article <405@csvax.liv.ac.uk>, sqrkl@csvax.liv.ac.uk writes: > "If the Atari ST, the biggest heap of dross in the universe, can have at > least SIX Pascal compilers written for it, why isn't there even ONE good one > for the Amiga ?" Because the Amiga has a modern operating system and deserves a modern language. If you must use something other than 'C', there are several Modula-2 compilers to go for... -- -- a clone of Peter (have you hugged your wolf today) da Silva `-_-' -- normally ...!hoptoad!academ!uhnix1!sugar!peter U -- Disclaimer: These aren't mere opinions... these are *values*.
rjg@sialis.mn.org (Robert J. Granvin) (03/02/88)
>So what about it? Anyone know? Also how come Borland >has never come out with Turbo Pascal for the Amy? >It was one of the very first products ever announced, I've still got a copy of a Borland full page ad for Turbo Pascal for the Amiga around here somewhere. It states in bold letters, something along the lines of "To be released in the first quarter, 1986!". Maybe I should send them a copy? :-) -- "How can you possibly hurt yourself by Robert J. Granvin falling on your face?" National Information Systems, Inc. rjg@sialis.mn.org UUCP:...uunet!{amdahl,hpda,rosevax}!bungia!sialis!rjg
pooley@hplabsb.UUCP (Chuck Pooley) (03/03/88)
Yeah Howard (UCSB) I don't know what they meant regarding "interface to graphics" either. Sigh. It took 5 weeks to get that response from them. Well, I guess it will becoming out RSN. %-) Chuck Pooley HP Labs
pooley@hplabsb.UUCP (Chuck Pooley) (03/12/88)
In article <222@sialis.mn.org>, rjg@sialis.mn.org (Robert J. Granvin) writes: > >So what about it? Anyone know? Also how come Borland > >has never come out with Turbo Pascal for the Amy? > >It was one of the very first products ever announced, > > I've still got a copy of a Borland full page ad for Turbo Pascal for > the Amiga around here somewhere. It states in bold letters, something > along the lines of "To be released in the first quarter, 1986!". > > Maybe I should send them a copy? :-) Or maybe they expect us to use Transformer in order to use Turbo? :*) Chuck Pooley HP Labs disclaim disclaim disclaim
UH2@PSUVM.BITNET (Lee Sailer) (03/17/88)
Nobody else has mentioned this: There is an ad for UCSD Pascal in the latest Computer Discount catalog. That's all I know. Forget you've ever heard of me.
ncreed@ndsuvax.UUCP (Walter Reed) (03/18/88)
In article <36386UH2@PSUVM> UH2@PSUVM.BITNET (Lee Sailer) writes: >Nobody else has mentioned this: There is an ad for UCSD Pascal in the >latest Computer Discount catalog. That's all I know. Forget you've ever >heard of me. I have this pascal. It is PECAN pascal. Pecan pascal is one of the worst piles of junk I have ever used. All pecan pascal gives you is some degree of portability between machines. This portability is only for text output and no graphics calls. It can use the more common ROM routines, but none of the others. It is limited to 196608 bytes of code, and 64K of heap/stack. It has graphics.library and dos.library calls, but thats it. Devices are access through "BIOS" (Yick, gag me with a function...) calls and are not very versitile. It seems as slow as uncompiled amigabasic when it is compiled down to its "P-code." Text output crawls along. The editor is terrible. The manual for the amiga specific capabilties is not always right (as a matter of fact, it has tons of errors.) It won't compile down to an amigados runable program. It has a mode called "native code generation" but that isn't quite true (it still needs the P-code interpreter.) I bought this hopeing that it would be useable for my classes, but it isn't. BTW, they also changed the name of most of the function calls for no reason at all. I will have to say that the costomer service portion is OK. I had the pleliminary version and so I called the up for an update. The said that it would cost $75 while my manual stated that it would be free. Well, I sent in a copy of that manual page with the word "free" highlighted and three weeks later (faster than Lattice update service) I got my new version. This was about 8 months ago. I haven't used it in 6 months. Anyone want it? Up for grabs.... I will probably just throw the thing in the trashcan. Literally. -- /* Walter Reed UUCP : uunet!ndsuvax!ncreed Internet : ncreed%NDSUVAX.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU Ph 701-235-0774 Bitnet : ncreed@ndsuvax OR NU105451@NDSUVM1 ------------------- */
phillip@nuchat.UUCP (Phillip Keen) (03/21/88)
I hope Borland does come out with a Turbo Pascal for the Amiga. I am a fre-
quent user of Turbo Pascal.
--
Thanx -- Phillip Keen Path: uunet!nuchat!phillip
Snail Address: Phillip Keen //
2705 Martin //
Pasadena, TX 77502 /////