[fpc-pascal] String types in a wider perspective (was: private integer is an illegal counter variable)

[Mattias Gaertner]

On Tue, 1 Dec 2009 14:03:37 +0200
Juha Manninen <juha.manninen at phnet.fi> wrote:

>[...]
> This apparently small syntax detail has a wider symbolic message. When people 
> here are seriously arguing about how important ShortString is ('cause you can 
> save 3 bytes or something...) the message for potential new Pascal programmers 
> is like:
> "If you think ShortString as a default string type is important because it was 
> invented at 1970 then welcome to our Old Farts' Freak Club. Otherwise please 
> use some contemporary language."
> I am almost an old fart by age but still I am looking for new innovations.
> Whole computing is still very young and is advancing rapidly. Development 
> tools must advance, too.
> Now Object Pascal has a place in this ecosystem as a compiled language with 
> clear syntax. Virtual machines are still memory hogs and C++ is ugly.
> After 50 years nobody cares if virtual machines hog memory because computers 
> will have so much resources but not yet so.

One of the innovations of the last years is the higher demand for
multi threaded apps.
Reference counted strings need atomic operations and are therefore
much slower as soon as you start another thread.
This could give shortstring a renaissance.

Mattias