[Cialug] Question?

[Claus]

On 10/26/2004 12:58 PM, Christopher Freeman wrote:
> Kevin C. Smith wrote:
> 
>> With dotnet and mono coming to linux. I was woundering --
>> Why not pascal?
>>
>> It seems to not get the attention of c, c++, or mono.
>> But, It can be compiled for Linux or Windows, maybe OSX?
>>
>> I'm not a programmer, and was basically wondering why Pascal seems left
>> out of the debate. Seem to me it would also run faster then VB.net or 
>> Mono
>> since produces compiled programs.
>>
>> Technical issues I'm not aware of maybe?
>> I took a programming class in college (Pascal) and thinking of looking
>> into the language again. I found this:
>> http://www.lazarus.freepascal.org/
>> and
>> http://www.borland.com/kylix/index.html
>>
>>
>>  
>>
> It's been a long time since I've looked at Pascal. There is Kylix 
> (someone correct me if I'm wrong), which is an OO Pascal, I believe. 
> Kylix is 'cross-platform' to the degree (or even a greater degree?) than 
> C/C++.
> 
> The real answer to your question might be, "Why trade between C/C++ and 
> Pascal when I can trade between C/C++ and Java/mono/...?" Pascal doesn't 
> offer enough advantages over C/C++ as a compiled language, and doesn't 
> begin to address the advantages of using a virtual machine. A virtual 
> machine can offer a completely unified environment and lots of juicy 
> bits like JustInTime compiling, etc. If your problem looks like a good 
> candidate for a compiled language, go with C or C++. They are standard 
> and designed to be working languages. Pascal is a teaching language by 
> design. If your problem is better handled by a scripting language or a 
> virtual machine, Pascal shouldn't be considered anyway.
> 
> Also, speed isn't the issue you might imagine. As Dan Juliano would love 
> to point out to you, some virtual machines (Java) can run just as fast 
> as compiled programs, depending on what you're doing. They can and do 
> optimize while running where a compiled program can't.
> 
> This isn't to say that you should never use Pascal. Just that, there are 
> several reasons why you don't see it in production much. Choose the 
> right tool for the job. If that's Pascal, go for it. But make sure it's 
> actually the solution you think it is.
> 
> My $0.02
> Chris

I'm not sure how many programming languages are out there but there are 
quite a few obscure ones that are used for production in certain areas 
or shops.  Pascal was never much being advertised as a production 
language but instead has always been seen as a teaching language by the 
general IT population.  So the hype was never that big about it except 
for a time at educational institutions.  Besides my personal opinion is 
that programming languages are over hyped and that often decisions for 
one language over the other are made for the wrong reasons.

I did run into a guy once that swore that Pascal was the greatest 
language and that he was in a shop that used it for production stuff. 
Unfortunately our encounter was only brief and I wasn't able to sit down 
and talk to him extensively about it.

   Claus