Path: csiph.com!fu-berlin.de!uni-berlin.de!individual.net!not-for-mail From: moi Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers,comp.os.linux.misc Subject: Re: TeX and Pascal [was Re: The joy of FORTRAN] Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2024 23:28:19 +0100 Lines: 81 Message-ID: References: <5mqdnZuGq4lgwm_7nZ2dnZfqnPSdnZ2d@earthlink.com> <1r0e6u9.1tubjrt1kapeluN%snipeco.2@gmail.com> <20240925083451.00003205@gmail.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Trace: individual.net 3YRl3UMfKGPY4i/AbycwKwDP6HdOoJ3EH6PIn7brCET6JwqWNu Cancel-Lock: sha1:PAe+KxjIKSHKExm6qVnP6oxAY3M= sha256:AT98rPOvMiWJU8CTaYpPpAiQFtRngPnhBJiGXI5qbXg= User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird Content-Language: en-GB In-Reply-To: Xref: csiph.com alt.folklore.computers:227311 comp.os.linux.misc:58797 On 29/09/2024 06:44, 186282@ud0s4.net wrote: > On 9/25/24 3:18 PM, Rich Alderson wrote: >> ram@zedat.fu-berlin.de (Stefan Ram) writes: >> >>> John Ames wrote or quoted: >>>> That's a marvelous description, although it fails to really capture the >>>> perversity of things like array-size-as-type-distinction; when a man >>>> introduces language features that practically every single third-party >>>> implementor has to provide their own workaround for, you know you've >>>> found a Truly Special Genius. >> >>>    Dudes, when Knuth was on the hunt for a language to whip >>>    up TeX back in the day, he figured Pascal was the cream of >>>    the crop among his options. You got to put that language in >>>    perspective and see it through the lens of its time! >> >> Pascal was used in the rewrite (2nd version), part of his Literate >> Programming >> thing.  The original was written in SAIL (an Algol-60 derivative >> created at >> SAIL, the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory).  The same >> thing was >> true of METAFONT, first version in SAIL, second in Pascal.  DEK used >> Pascal >> because it was spreading throughout the computing world, across tons of >> different architectures.  (According to DEK, in his presentation on >> Literate >> Programming at SHARE in San Francisco.) >> >> The thing was, neither was written in "pure Pascal", but rather in his >> Literate >> Programming formulation in which actual Pascal code was intertwined >> with TeX >> documentation for the program being written.  The resulting source was >> then run >> through either of two preprocessor programs, tangle (which stripped >> the Tex and >> wrote out a Pascal source without linebreaks or human comfortable >> indentation) >> and weave (which made the Pascal code acceptable to a TeX processor). >> >> Someone else very quickly created C versions of the preprocessors, and >> the >> modern TeX world was born. > > >   PASCAL is STILL my language of choice, when possible. > >   Poetry. > >   I've even got early DOS and the MS/IBM multi-pass PASCAL >   compiler on a VM. I do write little things for it from >   time to time just for fun. > >   FPC/Lazarus are your modern PASCAL outlets and I STILL >   write stuff for those. > >   Yea, yea, SOME stuff is just better in 'C' ... one of >   my latter pre-retirement apps was mostly Laz/FPC, but >   CALLED a 'C' app for a few special needs. Now for >   like client/server stuff, 'C' is traditional and >   kinda the best. > >   To each need ..... > >   I just can't bring myself to TRASH computer languages >   on the whole. Some are 'better', or not, but they all >   were created with various uses/theologies in mind and >   serve those quite well. The only ones I came to HATE >   were LISP/PROLOG and ADA - the latter being SO fascist >   that, well, no WONDER govt projects take 20 years .... Nonsense. BTW I have just converted my KDF9 Pascal compiler, paskal, from Pascal to Ada 2012. What a relief it has been to work with such an excellent language as Ada in place of the barely competent Pascal! -- Bill F.