4 ms·

I'm not sure what your point is.. is it: "More features are better"? I started programming a few years later than you.. first on Atari ST (Basic) then later in

I'm not sure what your point is.. is it: "More features are better"? I started programming a few years later than you.. first on Atari ST (Basic) then later in DOS (Pascal). I often wish myself back to these systems when I see today's bloated stacks of crap (obviously this does not apply to everything). I don't think this is relevant for the original discussion though..

pjmlp 8y ago
My point is ignoring features largely proven in mainstream languages is bad. Even the last version of Turbo Pascal for MS-DOS (7.0) was more feature rich, ignoring the lack of GC for a moment.
- sriram_malhar 8y ago
  Wut?
  - flavio81 8y ago
    What he said. Turbo Pascal 7 a better designed language than Go, for the most part.
    - sriram_malhar 8y ago
      I'd like an example or two.
      - pjmlp 8y ago
        Enumerations in Turbo Pascal type Colours = (Red, White, Blue); Enumerations in Go type Colours int const ( Red Colours = iota White Blue ) FFI in Turbo Pascal function Sin(const num: Integer): Double; external 'ext name'; FFI in Go (requires external help from a C compiler) // #include <stdio.h> // #include <errno.h> import "C" func Sin (num uint) float32 { return C.sin } Reference parameters in Turbo Pascal with null safety thanks type system procedure Swap(var a,b:Integer); var temp: Integer; begin temp:=a; a:=b; b:=temp end; Swap(x, y) Swap(nil, y) { compiler error: Got "Pointer" expected "SmallInt" } Reference parameters in Go (no type safety via type system, manual testing for nil required) func Swap (a *int, b*int) { var temp = *a *a = *b *b = temp } Swap(&x, &y) Swap(nil, &y) { runtime error: Invalid memory address or nil pointer dereference } I was also tempted to move the time scale from 1992 to 2009, but then I wouldn't be able to reproduce the generics from Object Pascal in Go. Ah, and Turbo Pascal 5.5 was compiling around 34 000 lines/minute in computers whose CPUs were maxed at about 30 MHZ, http://edn.embarcadero.com/article/20803 http://edn.embarcadero.com/article/20803
        YouAreGreat 8y ago
        The way I remember it, Pascal enums were useless. Regarding nil safety, did Pascal allow something along the line of the following? var x: ^int; ... x^ := nil; Swap(x^, y)
        pjmlp 8y ago
        Useless to those that didn't understood how to take advantage of them. They can be used as indexes, range validation, access control in variant records to simulate sum types. Enumerations are so useless that majority of modern languages have direct support for them. Yes, it did allow your contrived example, which seldom occurred in practice because proficient Pascal programmers only used pointers when other type safe alternatives weren't possible.

pjmlp 8y ago

My point is ignoring features largely proven in mainstream languages is bad. Even the last version of Turbo Pascal for MS-DOS (7.0) was more feature rich, ignoring the lack of GC for a moment.

sriram_malhar 8y ago
Wut?
- flavio81 8y ago
  What he said. Turbo Pascal 7 a better designed language than Go, for the most part.
  - sriram_malhar 8y ago
    I'd like an example or two.
    - pjmlp 8y ago
      Enumerations in Turbo Pascal type Colours = (Red, White, Blue); Enumerations in Go type Colours int const ( Red Colours = iota White Blue ) FFI in Turbo Pascal function Sin(const num: Integer): Double; external 'ext name'; FFI in Go (requires external help from a C compiler) // #include <stdio.h> // #include <errno.h> import "C" func Sin (num uint) float32 { return C.sin } Reference parameters in Turbo Pascal with null safety thanks type system procedure Swap(var a,b:Integer); var temp: Integer; begin temp:=a; a:=b; b:=temp end; Swap(x, y) Swap(nil, y) { compiler error: Got "Pointer" expected "SmallInt" } Reference parameters in Go (no type safety via type system, manual testing for nil required) func Swap (a *int, b*int) { var temp = *a *a = *b *b = temp } Swap(&x, &y) Swap(nil, &y) { runtime error: Invalid memory address or nil pointer dereference } I was also tempted to move the time scale from 1992 to 2009, but then I wouldn't be able to reproduce the generics from Object Pascal in Go. Ah, and Turbo Pascal 5.5 was compiling around 34 000 lines/minute in computers whose CPUs were maxed at about 30 MHZ, http://edn.embarcadero.com/article/20803 http://edn.embarcadero.com/article/20803
      - YouAreGreat 8y ago
        The way I remember it, Pascal enums were useless. Regarding nil safety, did Pascal allow something along the line of the following? var x: ^int; ... x^ := nil; Swap(x^, y)
        pjmlp 8y ago
        Useless to those that didn't understood how to take advantage of them. They can be used as indexes, range validation, access control in variant records to simulate sum types. Enumerations are so useless that majority of modern languages have direct support for them. Yes, it did allow your contrived example, which seldom occurred in practice because proficient Pascal programmers only used pointers when other type safe alternatives weren't possible.