Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!mit-eddie!uw-beaver!fluke!ssc-vax!housen
From: housen@ssc-vax.UUCP (Kevin Housen)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Some LSP questions
Message-ID: <2806@ssc-vax.UUCP>
Date: 19 Jul 89 17:43:34 GMT
Organization: Boeing Aerospace Corp., Seattle WA
Lines: 46



I am a recent convert to LightSpeed Pascal.  Its orders of magnitude
nicer to work with compared to what I was using (Absoft Fortran).
Anyway, I have a few simple questions -

(1) How can I convert an integer (or longint) to a variable of type real.
I sometimes want to pass integer quantities to procedures that want
real arguments.  In Fortran parlance, this is just float(integer).  What
do I do in Pascal?

(2) Does LSP support conformant arrays?  From what I can tell, it 
doesnt.  I am writing some procedures which process arrays of
varying length.  One way is to

type 
  bigArray=array[1..aLargeNumber] of real;
  bigArrayPtr=^bigArray;
  bigArrayHandle=^bigArray;

and then declare a variable of type bigArrayHandle, allocate however
much space (with NewHandle) I need for the array, and then pass the
handle to the procedure which processes the array.  My question -
Is this the standard way to pass arrays of varying length?

(3)  Has anyone had problems with the Backup Project utility that
comes with LSP?  This a.m. I was backing up my project onto a floppy.
I selected the destination folder on the floppy and hit the Backup button.
A system error (ID 12) occurred immediately.  After I rebooted, my
floppy was unreadable.  Fortunately, the project on my hard disk was
OK.  Anyway, I reformatted the floppy and tried again and all was fine.
Has this happened to anyone else? (BTW, I am running a MacII,
5Meg, 90Meg Jasmine, LSP 2.0, various INITs).

(4) This is directed to Rich.  In case you are looking for suggestions...
Are there any plans to implement split windows in the editor?  I was
spoiled by this feature in Qued.  Also, are there plans to embelish the
list of mathematical operators (e.g. x to the y power) or functions?
As I said earlier, I like LSP alot.  I am just curious about the direction(s)
its heading in.


Thanks heaps,


Kevin Housen