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Article View: comp.lang.modula2
Article #585

Re: m2 for scientific computation

#585
From: Robert Frank
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1992 06:26
60 lines
3149 bytes
In article <BtK7wI.MF3@ais.org>  writes:
> In article <1992Aug25.170550.6706@sequent.com> tima@sequent.com (Timothy Alan  
Anderson) writes:
> >
> >Modula2 is dead. It's a shame! I was just telling someone after looking at
> >a C++ example, "Luckily I learned Modula-2 first. I do all this stuff
> >allready, I just have to learn a different syntax".
> >
> >And let's all thank the Ada-2 folks for nailing the coffin shut...
> >
> >tima@sequent.com
> 
> Right on, although Modula-2 is very much alive in many parts of the world,
> in the United States, it is dead. I too am glad that I learned M-2 before I
> learned C. I use many of the same principles I learned with M-2 in my C
> programming.
> 
> One of the biggest complaints I stil have with M-2 is that the type checking
> is *too* strict.
> 
> Why should I have to assign a pointer to an intermediate generic pointer,
> when I all I want to do is convert the type of my pointer?
>
Err, type casting is also possible in Modula-2! 
> i.e.
> wordpointer = integer pointer;
> bytepointer = wordpointer;
> character pointer= bytepointer;

A good compiler should digest the following:
character pointer = ADDRESS(word word pointer);

Where 'word pointer' is simply casted (not converted) to type ADDRESS which is  
asignable to all pointers.
> 
> vs. C's   character pointer = (char *) integer pointer;
> 
> Oh well. I loved M-2 very much, except for the typechecking details. I am
> thankful that it taught me good style, but for me, M-2 will be a 'teaching'

 .. let alone the syntacticall nesting of procedures...

> language, just like it's grandfather language, Pascal.
> 
> 
> 
> ------------------////////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\------------------
> | Patrick Draper           Disclaimer:  I can't control my fingers,        |
> | draper@umcc.ais.org                   I can't control my toes! - Ramones |
> | University of Michigan                                                   |
> | Computer Club                We are a nation of laws, not people         |
> ------------------\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\////////////////////------------------

--
Robert Frank                         tel. + (061) 321 99 67                 
Institut fuer Informatik             fax  + (061) 321 99 15                 
University of Basel, Switzerland                                            
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Newsgroups: comp.lang.modula2
Subject: Re: m2 for scientific computation
Message-ID: <1992Aug26.062611.5114@urz.unibas.ch>
From: frank@ifi.unibas.ch (Robert Frank)
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1992 06:26:11 GMT
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