[comp.sys.amiga.programmer] Metacomo Pascal

peterk@cbmger.UUCP (Peter Kittel GERMANY) (02/05/91)

In article <43675@nigel.ee.udel.edu> Dennis_Grant%CMR001.bitnet@ugw.utcs.utoronto.ca writes:
>
>     Does anybody know what the most recent release of Metacomo Pascal is?
>Is Metacomo still in business?

Don't know. Never heard about it/them for already long time.

But how about KickPascal, from Maxon (in Eschborn, Germany)?
It gets good critics in the magazines. (I'm no Pascal expert myself.)

-- 
Best regards, Dr. Peter Kittel  // E-Mail to  \\  Only my personal opinions... 
Commodore Frankfurt, Germany  \X/ {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!cbmger!peterk

jnmoyne@lbl.gov (Jean-Noel MOYNE) (02/06/91)

In article <841@cbmger.UUCP> peterk@cbmger.UUCP (Peter Kittel GERMANY) 
writes:
> >     Does anybody know what the most recent release of Metacomo Pascal 
is?
> >Is Metacomo still in business?
> 
> Don't know. Never heard about it/them for already long time.
> 
> But how about KickPascal, from Maxon (in Eschborn, Germany)?
> It gets good critics in the magazines. (I'm no Pascal expert myself.)

  Yes !!! Just forget about Metacomo Pascal, unless you like 
_really_minimalists_ pascal compilers ! (i.e. string ? what's that ? never 
heard of ! And don't ever dream about opening a window or do fancy things 
like that).

      KickPascal seems to be a good Pascal compiler (at least !! So many 
years of waiting!), but why don't you try Modula2 while you're there ? 
.... in fact I don't care anymore Metacomo Pascal was such a turn-off that 
I learned C !! (a long time ago).

          JNM

--
These are my own ideas (not LBL's)

jlavi@ujocs.joensuu.fi (Jarkko Lavinen) (02/06/91)

	I've used Metacomco Pascal 2.xx for years now. It is slow, but it works.
Unlike the 1.xx versions, this doesn't guru often.

	It supports strings (there IS STRING type !!!), it supports AmigaDos
calls directly, it has all the include files like in assembler or c, but in
Pascal. You can also call external modules written in C.

	The distribution disk has Speechtoy as an example. It's straight port
from C code, but in Pascal. I once compiled it and the result is a code that is
distinctable only by the huge executable size. Otherwise it looks exactly like
the original program. I think I have good reason to claim that one CAN open
windows from Pascal programs, I have done that by myself.
	Of course there were problems. Like (struct XYZ *) had to be done by
variable record kludge and had to initialize records "structs" field by field.

	2.xx came much too late. It should have been available at once. Mine is
dated June 88. 

	Jarkko Lavinen

clcp16@vaxa.strath.ac.uk (02/06/91)

In article <841@cbmger.UUCP>, peterk@cbmger.UUCP (Peter Kittel GERMANY) writes:
> In article <43675@nigel.ee.udel.edu> Dennis_Grant%CMR001.bitnet@ugw.utcs.utoronto.ca writes:
>>
>>     Does anybody know what the most recent release of Metacomo Pascal is?
>>Is Metacomo still in business?
> 
> Don't know. Never heard about it/them for already long time.

Metacomco are long since gone, and all their products have gone too.
MCC stuff may have been slow, but it worked.

> 
> But how about KickPascal, from Maxon (in Eschborn, Germany)?
> It gets good critics in the magazines. (I'm no Pascal expert myself.)

Kickpascal's quite neat. I saw an early version of it many moons ago - it's
all integrated, a bit like Turbo Pascal on that machine.

PCQ Pascal on Fish Disk 339 (am I right?) is OK for low cost small scale
messing about with Pascal, if you need that sort of thing.

	Stewart C. Russell
	University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland.

kent@swrinde.nde.swri.edu (Kent D. Polk) (02/06/91)

In article <18826.27b0abaa@windy.dsir.govt.nz> srwmcln@windy.dsir.govt.nz writes:
>In article <9590@dog.ee.lbl.gov>, jnmoyne@lbl.gov (Jean-Noel MOYNE) writes:
>> References:<43675@nigel.ee.udel.edu> <841@cbmger.UUCP>
>>
>>   Yes !!! Just forget about Metacomo Pascal, unless you like 
>> _really_minimalists_ pascal compilers ! (i.e. string ? what's that ? never 
>> heard of ! And don't ever dream about opening a window or do fancy things 
>> like that).
>> 
>Version 2 of Metacomco Pascal is much better than earlier releases,
>Jean-Noel's comments are years out of date.

Yes, MCC 2.0x has strings, but there are problems. I wrote a simple
database system using 2.0x since I thought that it was mature enough.
I was wrong.

One of the very common string commands (forgot which one now) took an
inordinately long time - on the order of .2 seconds to complete its
operation. I ended up writing a replacement for it that worked at
expected speeds. Structure pointers still don't get dereferenced
correctly, 'with' gets confused so easy it is pathetic, sets passed to
a procedure or function often get scrambled.

There were 3 or 4 more major problems, only I can't remember that far
back :^(

I wrote a bug list of all these problems to MCC but never did hear back
from them. I also never again received an update notice :^)

Kent Polk: Southwest Research Institute (512) 522-2882
Internet : kent@swrinde.nde.swri.edu
UUCP     : $ {cs.utexas.edu, gatech!petro, sun!texsun}!swrinde!kent

srwmcln@windy.dsir.govt.nz (02/07/91)

 In article <43675@nigel.ee.udel.edu> Dennis_Grant%CMR001.bitnet@ugw.utcs.utoronto.ca writes:
>
>     Does anybody know what the most recent release of Metacomo Pascal is?
>Is Metacomo still in business?

I last got an update of Pascal V2 from Metacomco on 17/June/88. I dont know
if they are still in business, I assume so. Clive.

srwmcln@windy.dsir.govt.nz (02/07/91)

In article <9590@dog.ee.lbl.gov>, jnmoyne@lbl.gov (Jean-Noel MOYNE) writes:
> References:<43675@nigel.ee.udel.edu> <841@cbmger.UUCP>
>
>   Yes !!! Just forget about Metacomo Pascal, unless you like 
> _really_minimalists_ pascal compilers ! (i.e. string ? what's that ? never 
> heard of ! And don't ever dream about opening a window or do fancy things 
> like that).
> 
Version 2 of Metacomco Pascal is much better than earlier releases,
Jean-Noel's comments are years out of date.

Clive.