klute@trillian (11/29/89)
Path: trillian !klute In article <2455@stl.stc.co.uk> "David Price" <dhp@stl.stc.co.uk> writes: >Alternatively, are there any C/C++ developers listening who are adventurous >enough to release the *first* accessible Object-Oriented language for the ST? >(NB Little Smalltalk is not suitable for large scale development and the >Dortmund Smalltalk-80 is too expensive (about 600 sterling) and needs 4Mb) If you want to do object oriented programming you definitly should have a look at SIMULA. SIMULA is an object oriented programming language available on a bunch of machines *including* the Atari ST (see below). This is what you get: - Object oriented programming. A typical SIMULA program consists of a set of interacting processes or *objects*. Objects are incarnations of some proto-object or *class*, generated (and later perhaps terminated) during the execution of the program. In this manner a program written in SIMULA may map the problem solution conveniently and cleanly. - Objects may act independently of each other in "quasi-parallel". This enables the class objects to act as coroutines, so that the action of one object may be temporarily suspended, later to be resumed at the exact point of suspension. This feature is not found in other high-level languages. - List processing. The class "Simset" may be applied to add list processing capabilities to the language. The programmer will then have tools available for the manipulation of queues in an efficient manner (definition of queues, insertion and deletion operations etc.) - Simulation. Application of the built-in class "Simulation" extends SIMULA to a powerful tool for discrete simulation. - Modularisation. Separate compilation of classes and procedures is an integral part of the language. The language demands complete type compatibility between the definition and the usage of such separately compiled modules. Thus the construction of larger SIMULA systems may be divided into subtasks, each of which may be parcelled out to different work groups, without running the risk of corruption due to wrong assumptions about attribute types. - SIMULA programs are highly portable between different computer systems (source code compatibility). - Powerful text handling, dynamic arrays, flexible file handling, etc. Some properties of the SIMULA system for the Atari ST: - Full SIMULA language standard. (Well, this will be true from version 2.1 on. The real arithmetic in the current version 2.0 is not quite error free.) - Compact implementation. The complete system fits on one double-side disk. - Small. The compiler needs less than 1 MB even when compiling modules consisting of several thousands of source lines. - Fast. Compiling of a source file with say 1000 lines of code needs only one minute. The speed of executable SIMULA programs is comparable with that of other high-level languages. - Complete interfaces to TOS and GEM. - Implementation of a symbolic debugger (source-code debugger) is under development. Version 2.1 will be available in January 1990 probably. The price is DM 198,- (ca. 110,- US$ / 71 Pound Sterling today). Reduced price for students etc. is DM 148,-. Whoever wants to start using SIMULA *now* can spend an extra DM 15,- and get version 2.0 immediately. Version 2.1 will be delivered as soon as it is available. Send your SIMULA request to simula@unido.uucp or simula@unido.bitnet. Dipl.-Inform. Rainer Klute klute@heike.irb.informatik.uni-dortmund.de Univ. Dortmund, IRB klute@unido.uucp, klute@unido.bitnet Postfach 500500 |)|/ ...uunet!mcvax!unido!klute D-4600 Dortmund 50 |\|\ Tel.: +49 231 755-4663