Path: csiph.com!eternal-september.org!feeder.eternal-september.org!nntp.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: John Ames Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.misc,alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: naughty Pascal Date: Mon, 5 Jan 2026 10:49:46 -0800 Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Lines: 26 Message-ID: <20260105104946.00005ab4@gmail.com> References: <10iu02q$1029n$12@dont-email.me> <10iu3g7$11u10$3@dont-email.me> <10iutjt$1c0aq$2@dont-email.me> <79ScnZHy-uXnP8n0nZ2dnZfqnPadnZ2d@giganews.com> <4oycne7Wk4RQ6sj0nZ2dnZfqnPidnZ2d@giganews.com> <10j48fv$2t1h9$12@dont-email.me> <10j5qgf$3etcd$6@dont-email.me> <10j60bb$3hhps$1@dont-email.me> <7cadnTBwKKzA68r0nZ2dnZfqn_idnZ2d@giganews.com> <10jak55$13ji1$2@dont-email.me> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Injection-Date: Mon, 05 Jan 2026 18:49:54 +0000 (UTC) Injection-Info: nntp.eternal-september.org; posting-host="b2391d08a3fc6e672fef609ec53bb1a2"; logging-data="3320097"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX18FXELAv/A/OQ+I8QVcAa/ABqtbVh1aIsA=" Cancel-Lock: sha1:3oCu7TTKhmreDptPjuZub1CD6wc= X-Newsreader: Claws Mail 4.3.0 (GTK 3.24.42; x86_64-w64-mingw32) Xref: csiph.com comp.os.linux.misc:80528 alt.folklore.computers:233205 On Sat, 3 Jan 2026 08:31:33 +0000 The Natural Philosopher wrote: > "The statement "Pascal has no I/O" originates from > Brian Kernighan=E2=80=99s 1981 essay, "Why Pascal is Not My Favorite > Programming Language". >=20 > Kernighan argued that the original 1970 definition of Pascal was > severely limited for systems programming because: Yeah, that was it - not *no* I/O in the sense that was true of Algol, but weird and constrained in ways that betray its origins as a teaching language. Mainly, files are assumed to be of a uniform structure; you can have a FILE OF CHAR or a FILE OF INTEGER, but not a file containing both strings and integers. If you want to do *that,* you're supposed to make a struct and have a FILE OF that, but this too has to be the same across the whole thing. Files of mixed or variable structure? Who uses *those!?* Like many of Wirth's design choices, it sounds simple on paper but is unnecessarily confining in the Real World - and, as Kernighan points out, there were no "escape hatches" for extending the language from within, leading to a bunch of proprietary and mutually-incompatible variants. Obviously, it's been decades and the landscape has changed substantially, but it really was dunderheaded at the time.