[fpc-pascal] some new features to delphi prisem

Doug Chamberlin dougchamberlin at earthlink.net
Wed Feb 24 11:09:05 CET 2010


On 2/24/2010 2:48 AM, Matt Emson wrote:
> I think an interjection at this point is required - all of this is 
> down to personal experience, preference and style. It is what you are 
> used to. Having done 10+ years of Pascal, yes this is very alien. 
> Having done 5+ years of C# and C based languages, no this is useful. 
> Should it be part of Free Pascal? That is for the compiler maintainers 
> to decide. However, don't write it off because you find it 
> undesirable.  One languages feature is another's bad syntax decision. 
> I can't count the number of times I've tried to explain the point of 
> Sets to non Pascal programmers (read: C based language users.) I also 
> don't want to remember the countless bad implementations of Sets I saw 
> whilst trying not to have to reinvent the wheel.
Your post illustrates a misunderstanding that is common today - that 
choices are arbitrary and equivalent and should just be decided by 
personal preference. There are many choices people make today that are 
far more serious than that. But they just dismiss them as "Its my 
choice. What's it to you?" This is especially common in items of 
convenience.

Within the philosophic principles that formed Pascal such a proposed 
construct is a violation. (As are some of the now accepted extensions 
introduced by Borland.) The principle is one of minimalism or 
conservation of features. The principle is: If a feature can be 
expressed using a reasonable expression of the current language features 
it is unnecessary and should be left out. Wirth did an outstanding job 
of adhering tot his principle. Those that followed him, not so much.

It is important when considering language changes to observe the 
principles and adhere to them. Their logical consistency is important to 
maintain for that is is the basis of the language's integrity and that, 
in turn, is the basis of its elegance and power.

-- 
Doug C.
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