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> It seems like the "modern" way to write Pascal would be with FreePascal The latest language from Niklaus Wirth is Oberon which was last updated in 2016. It i

> It seems like the "modern" way to write Pascal would be with FreePascal The latest language from Niklaus Wirth is Oberon which was last updated in 2016. It is both smaller and more capable than Pascal. https://www.miasap.se/obnc/oberon-report.html https://www.miasap.se/obnc/oberon-report.html

sigzero 6y ago
True but it is also exponentially more obscure in usage.
- augustk 6y ago
  Indeed, for a long time there was no freestanding compiler (Oberon is also an operating system) which you could use to create programs on any computer. The OBNC compiler, which transpiles to C, solves this problem: https://miasap.se/obnc/ https://miasap.se/obnc/
c-cube 6y ago
In what ways is it more capable than Pascal? At first glance Pascal seemed to have more features (including discriminated unions)?
- augustk 6y ago
  To name a few, Oberon has extensible types which enables object oriented programming (and makes discriminated unions superfluous). It supports modular programming. It also has so called open arrays which allows passing arrays of any length to a procedure.
pjmlp 6y ago
As long time follower from Niklaus Wirth work, Oberon is more capable than Pascal, only if you are speaking about the original edition of Pascal in the mid-70's.
- augustk 6y ago
  Yes, what I have in mind are the languages designed by Niklaus Wirth. What's fascinating about Oberon is how small and clean it is compared to equally capable languages.
  - pjmlp 6y ago
    Just to stay within what Extended Pascal and Modula-2 allowed for. The original Oberon and Oberon-07 lacked any support for subranges, enumerated indexes for arrays, co-routines, monitors and exceptions. Oberon-07 goes even further cutting features from Oberon. For me the best language from the Oberon family is Active Oberon. Oberon-07 is a nice exercise in minimalism, but not something I would enjoy using in production.
    - augustk 6y ago
      As the famous quote by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry goes: “Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”

sigzero 6y ago

True but it is also exponentially more obscure in usage.

augustk 6y ago
Indeed, for a long time there was no freestanding compiler (Oberon is also an operating system) which you could use to create programs on any computer. The OBNC compiler, which transpiles to C, solves this problem: https://miasap.se/obnc/ https://miasap.se/obnc/

c-cube 6y ago

In what ways is it more capable than Pascal? At first glance Pascal seemed to have more features (including discriminated unions)?

augustk 6y ago
To name a few, Oberon has extensible types which enables object oriented programming (and makes discriminated unions superfluous). It supports modular programming. It also has so called open arrays which allows passing arrays of any length to a procedure.

pjmlp 6y ago

As long time follower from Niklaus Wirth work, Oberon is more capable than Pascal, only if you are speaking about the original edition of Pascal in the mid-70's.

augustk 6y ago
Yes, what I have in mind are the languages designed by Niklaus Wirth. What's fascinating about Oberon is how small and clean it is compared to equally capable languages.
- pjmlp 6y ago
  Just to stay within what Extended Pascal and Modula-2 allowed for. The original Oberon and Oberon-07 lacked any support for subranges, enumerated indexes for arrays, co-routines, monitors and exceptions. Oberon-07 goes even further cutting features from Oberon. For me the best language from the Oberon family is Active Oberon. Oberon-07 is a nice exercise in minimalism, but not something I would enjoy using in production.
  - augustk 6y ago
    As the famous quote by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry goes: “Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”