[fpc-pascal] Standardization of Modern Pascal

[Neil Graham]

To add my two cents to this debate.

I have always thought the ideal form of standards (or de facto thereof) came 
from benevolent dictators.  Borland did that job well for quite a long time,  
a single vision developed well beats the design-by-committee half-compromise 
path any day.

The problem only really arose when the benevolent dictator stops being 
benevolent. (circa .net).  The next best thing is what Free Pascal provides. 
An open architecture is lower to develop due to the additional discussion 
required, but it is also immune to taking the wrong path leaving people in 
limbo.  Such events just inspire forks.  

In the article I wrote at 
http://screamingduck.com/Article.php?ArticleID=43&Show=ABCE

I touched upon Free Pascal as an alternative to a standard.  Being open means 
that people will never be denied access to the compiler, as long as it 
remains compatible with itself, that works for me.  There are a number of 
languages out there for which the only implementation is the open source one.

The other problem that I encounter is purely an evangelical one, People assume 
pascal is the pascal of old.   I would suggest (perhaps at the time of a 
major release) creating a language syntax mode with a unique name.   This 
would allow people to call it by name and avoid the confusion that results 
from saying 'I wrote it in Pascal'

Delcaring a name for the language and defining it as "what the lastest Free 
Pascal does" would serve my purposes adequately.