Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!bloom-beacon!apple!motcsd!hpda!hpcuhb!hpcllla!hpclisp!chip From: chip@hpclisp.HP.COM (Chip Chapin) Newsgroups: comp.lang.pascal Subject: Re: Strings in Pascal (was standard pascal) Message-ID: <950026@hpclisp.HP.COM> Date: 29 Jun 89 18:21:14 GMT References: <4757@freja.diku.dk> Organization: Hewlett-Packard Calif. Language Lab Lines: 68 Regarding the following... >/ acm9@apple.ucsb.edu (Mike O'Brien) / 4:06 pm Jun 27, 1989 / >In article <4757@freja.diku.dk> dat0@freja.diku.dk (Dat-0 undervisningsassistent) writes: >>Since we are about to switch from CP/M-computers to MS-DOS-computers, I was >>wondering if there exist a truly standard Pascal-compiler running on >>MS-DOS-computers on the market. > >I think everyone would agree that Borland International's "Turbo Pascal" >is the current standard in MS-DOS. It compiles faster, and makes faster >and tighter EXE files, than any other Pascal on the market. The vast >majority of the people on this newsgroup also seem to use Turbo Pascal. I believe the poster is requesting information on an ISO-standard Pascal compiler for MSDOS. I have no beef with Turbo, and would agree that it is certainly a de facto standard of sorts, due to large number satisfied customers. But it is far from the ISO-standard. In INFOWORLD tests of Pascal compilers last year (Sept 12, 1988), TP4.0 actually scored the LOWEST in terms passing the validation test suite (72%) (it also received the HIGHEST value score, 8.2). Included in the comparisons were Pascal compilers from Metaware, Microsoft, and Oregon Software. Here are some overall scores from the article: Compiler Validation ReportCard (10 == best) ======= ========== ========== Oregon Software Pascal-2.1m 99% 6.6 Metaware Pascal 2.7 91% 6.0 Microsoft Pascal 4.0 84% 7.2 Borland Turbo Pascal 4.0 72% 8.2 It's interesting to note that the percentage of validation tests passed seems to be inversely proportional to the overall report card score assigned by InfoWorld. The Oregon Software Pascal is reasonably priced at $229. It's relatively low overall score is mostly due to InfoWorld's heavy weighting of the programming environment provided and obscures the fact that its ratings were mostly VeryGood and Excellent (Pascal-2 uses the traditional edit-compile-link-[run/debug] cycle rather than a snazy integrated scheme like Turbo). It includes a number of Turbo-compatible libraries, and is InfoWorld's compiler of choice for users that "need to write programs that will run on systems other than MS-DOS". Since Pascal standardization is a much greater issue in Europe than in the USA, it would be my personal recommendation as well. Oregon Software 695 S.W. Macadam Ave., Suite 200 Portland, OR 97219 800/874-8501, or 503/245-2202 Disclaimer: My comments are not the official opinion of Hewlett Packard. ------------------------------------------------------------ Chip Chapin -- HP Computer Language Lab uucp: ... {allegra,decvax,ihnp4,ucbvax} !hplabs!hpda!chip or ... chip%hpda@hplabs.hp.com HPDesk: chip (hpda) /HPUNIX/UX USMail: 47LZ; 19420 Homestead Ave; Cupertino, CA 95014 Phone: 408/447-5735 HPTelnet: 1-447-5735 -------------------------------------------------------------