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Re: Wirth-ian languages

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From "Rod Pemberton" <dont_use_email@xnothavet.cqm>
Newsgroups comp.lang.misc
Subject Re: Wirth-ian languages
Date Mon, 28 Apr 2014 20:59:12 -0400
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On Mon, 28 Apr 2014 12:23:05 -0400, bruce axtens <bugmagnet@outlook.com>  
wrote:

> Is it fair to say that most of the Wirth-ian programming languages are
> either dead or in palliative care? Delphi seems to be about the only
> thing left with any life in it. Am I missing anything?
>

I think it's dead.  Most people on other newsgroups seem to argue
against me though when I say language 'X' or 'Y' or 'Z' is dead.
Other than BASIC, I think the languages of our era (being presumptuous
here) learned are dead: COBOL, FORTAN, Pascal, LISP, PL/I, Forth,
Ada, etc.  BASIC still seems to have a life in limited situations,
e.g, industrial machines, hobbyists.

Whenever I point out that nearly all the newer languages use or have
used C as an intermediate representation, or as assembly, or derived
their internal code from compiled C code, I get attacked on that one
too, even though it's true.  I can cite many of them.

C and C++ and various derivatives, like Java, "won" the language wars.
The other languages you see are all modern creations to handle various
modern issues: internet, websites, etc.  IMO, the TIOBE index confirms
this.  C and derivatives are the majority.  Most others are insignificant.

As a high-level language, I liked Pascal for the most part.  It had
some wierd stuff in it too though.  It was well structured.  The problem
with Pascal, almost three decades ago when I learned it, was it had two
serious problems.  The first was that it didn't have pointers.  This
was safe, but really complicated programming certain solutions.  Others
have pointed out (pun-intended) that Pascal has pointers today.  The
second was that there was no ability to access low-level features of
the machine.  This was a problem in the era of cheap, personal, home
computers.  You were trapped inside a box which couldn't control the
computer using Pascal.  That's fine for some applications, but mostly
just prevented programmers from using their machines.  Even BASIC of
that era provided mechanisms to do that, although they were custom to
each version of BASIC.


Rod Pemberton

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Thread

Wirth-ian languages bruce axtens <bugmagnet@outlook.com> - 2014-04-28 16:23 +0000
  Re: Wirth-ian languages Joe Hynes <theda@southpark.net> - 2014-04-28 17:31 +0000
    Re: Wirth-ian languages Kaz Kylheku <kaz@kylheku.com> - 2014-04-28 18:47 +0000
      Re: Wirth-ian languages "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2014-04-28 20:35 +0100
        Re: Wirth-ian languages Kaz Kylheku <kaz@kylheku.com> - 2014-04-28 20:18 +0000
          Re: Wirth-ian languages "James Harris" <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2014-04-28 22:50 +0100
            Re: Wirth-ian languages "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2014-04-29 00:03 +0100
              Re: Wirth-ian languages Kaz Kylheku <kaz@kylheku.com> - 2014-04-28 23:51 +0000
              Re: Wirth-ian languages "James Harris" <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2014-04-29 07:59 +0100
                Re: Wirth-ian languages "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2014-04-29 10:04 +0100
                Re: Wirth-ian languages "James Harris" <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2014-04-29 11:33 +0100
                Re: Wirth-ian languages "Rod Pemberton" <dont_use_email@xnothavet.cqm> - 2014-04-29 07:41 -0400
            Re: Wirth-ian languages "Rod Pemberton" <dont_use_email@xnothavet.cqm> - 2014-04-28 21:46 -0400
              Re: Wirth-ian languages "James Harris" <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2014-04-29 08:24 +0100
                Re: Wirth-ian languages "Rod Pemberton" <dont_use_email@xnothavet.cqm> - 2014-04-29 07:33 -0400
                Re: Wirth-ian languages "James Harris" <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2014-04-29 14:38 +0100
                Re: Wirth-ian languages "Rod Pemberton" <dont_use_email@xnothavet.cqm> - 2014-04-30 21:28 -0400
                Re: Wirth-ian languages "James Harris" <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2014-05-01 10:44 +0100
              Re: Wirth-ian languages "Dmitry A. Kazakov" <mailbox@dmitry-kazakov.de> - 2014-04-29 09:59 +0200
                Re: Wirth-ian languages Kaz Kylheku <kaz@kylheku.com> - 2014-04-29 15:51 +0000
                Re: Wirth-ian languages "Dmitry A. Kazakov" <mailbox@dmitry-kazakov.de> - 2014-04-30 10:57 +0200
                Re: Wirth-ian languages Kaz Kylheku <kaz@kylheku.com> - 2014-04-30 15:47 +0000
                Re: Wirth-ian languages "Dmitry A. Kazakov" <mailbox@dmitry-kazakov.de> - 2014-05-01 10:18 +0200
                Re: Wirth-ian languages Kaz Kylheku <kaz@kylheku.com> - 2014-05-01 16:56 +0000
                Re: Wirth-ian languages "Dmitry A. Kazakov" <mailbox@dmitry-kazakov.de> - 2014-05-02 10:10 +0200
                Re: Wirth-ian languages "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2014-04-30 18:27 +0100
                Re: Wirth-ian languages "Dmitry A. Kazakov" <mailbox@dmitry-kazakov.de> - 2014-05-01 10:18 +0200
                Re: Wirth-ian languages Kaz Kylheku <kaz@kylheku.com> - 2014-05-01 17:10 +0000
                Re: Wirth-ian languages "Dmitry A. Kazakov" <mailbox@dmitry-kazakov.de> - 2014-05-02 09:22 +0200
  Re: Wirth-ian languages "Rod Pemberton" <dont_use_email@xnothavet.cqm> - 2014-04-28 20:59 -0400
    Re: Wirth-ian languages "Rod Pemberton" <dont_use_email@xnothavet.cqm> - 2014-04-28 21:10 -0400
    Re: Wirth-ian languages Nils M Holm <news2009@t3x.org> - 2014-04-29 07:52 +0000
    Re: Wirth-ian languages "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2014-04-29 09:45 +0100
  Re: Wirth-ian languages Jacko <jackokring@gmail.com> - 2014-04-29 05:37 -0700

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