Path: csiph.com!fu-berlin.de!uni-berlin.de!individual.net!not-for-mail From: rbowman Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.misc,alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: naughty Pascal Date: 7 Jan 2026 22:03:46 GMT Lines: 44 Message-ID: References: <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> <10jh3n1$3644m$1@nntp.eternal-september.org> <20260105115058.000054fc@gmail.com> <20260105133755.00005e21@gmail.com> <20260106083038.00000777@gmail.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Trace: individual.net 3hHv0zcJKhhp0ECj+Rr7WgbkazWFyjQPRIHDV3hG3GXl6Y7MQJ Cancel-Lock: sha1:N7iVqY2EzT1gVi+Zl8IAvOXRqWk= sha256:DPPbsMvENw+6mhRdsAYq6BuRLI/Du6WQIeZZrZpJX+g= User-Agent: Pan/0.162 (Pokrosvk) Xref: csiph.com comp.os.linux.misc:80707 alt.folklore.computers:233356 On Wed, 7 Jan 2026 13:38:49 +0100, Carlos E.R. wrote: > On 2026-01-06 17:30, John Ames wrote: >> On Tue, 6 Jan 2026 13:19:54 +0100 "Carlos E.R." >> wrote: >> >>> Turbo Pascal had [...] >> >> Sure did! But TP didn't roll out 'til 1983, thirteen years into the >> language's existence. >> >>> I don't think anyone used the original flavor of the language. >> >> The ISO standard wasn't finalized 'til 1983, the same year as TP; even >> UCSD Pascal didn't come around 'til 1977. But it was being used for >> teaching well before that, and Kernighan's essay was published in '81, >> so people were most definitely using (or trying to use) earlier forms >> of the language for stuff. >> >> > Ah. I did not meet it till about the time of TP 2. The timeline is important. I'll try to construct my experience. I was doing contract work for Sprague in Sanford ME in the early '80s. Most of their engineers were University of Maine graduates and UM used Pascal as a didactic language. That would mean their Pascal courses were in the late '70s, given the time to graduate and find a job. These were electronics engineers, not CS students. Like when I learned FORTRAN IV, the assumption was you would use computers as a tool during your career, not that it would be your career. The Pascal they had learned was inadequate for what they were trying to do. In another context I also worked with chemists in the '80s who had been taught Fortran. Their code was pretty horrible but it did get the job done and I was able to adapt it. Colleges don't always make great choices and do their students a disservice. At one time University of Montana used Modula-2, another Wirth production. Later they chose Java after being offered financial incentives by Sun. (I think it was before Oracle). Arguably a better choice although it didn't do much when we were looking for C/C++ programmers.