[fpc-pascal] Can variables be declared within a block?

[Jürgen Hestermann]

Rob Kennedy schrieb:
> Write that into your local coding guidelines and 
> enforce it in code reviews, not the language spec.

This argument can be used to promote each and every change, no matter how obscure it is.
But you forget that you may be forced to read code from other people in which case you are 
suddenly confronted with such weird constructs. Then it does not help that you had guidelines 
for your own code. I fail to see this as a relevant argument.

As I see it, Pascals success was just the simple (still powerful) syntax and semantic.
I would not like that this is given up by following trends and making Pascal the same thicket as C.
And for what reason? Just to save a little typing? I can't see how this outwheighs the disadvantage
of obscuring the code.