[fpc-pascal] Re: classes initialization

[L]

 > Pascal does not define any variable initialization itself - one should
 > always init all Pascal vars of any type. Doing so is an excellent 
coding > habit also portable to any other language/OS - protects against
 >  low-level implementation changes.
 >
 > I never trust a side effect I didn't code myself..... 8-))


We have to stop thinking in standard pascal and think about safety and 
ways to automate safety in a human matter. We are not computers, we are 
humans. You can claim all you want that you will ALWAYS init all your 
pascal vars...  but you are a human and you will not *always* init all 
your pascal vars. This is the reason features like this have been available:

var i: integer = 0; // handy

procedure test;
var i: integer = 0; // handy
begin
end;

If you accidentally delete the init code and forget to put it back, the 
above way is safer. If you accidently init something in a dangerous way 
such as using FillChar on old code that now no longer works with the 
newer automated types.. again this is dangerous. It may be "pascalish" 
to continue to use hacks like FillChar and init() code far away from the 
declaration (especially in globals).. but this is the same as a C 
programmer saying that ansistrings are not C ish so we should use pchars 
all the time?

Let's please stop the pascal fanboyism and consider humans, and safety.

Even Wirth has moved away from pascal greatly if you study his languages 
Oberon, Modula, and a derived ComponentPascal.


L505