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From: Dominique.Willems@p4610.f46.n295.z2.fidonet.org (Dominique Willems)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.modula2
Subject: Re: Good Modula-2 packages
Message-ID: <5380.26731967@puddle.fidonet.org>
Date: 3 Jun 90 22:17:00 GMT
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 > I would recommend the TopSpeed Modula-2 Compiler by Jensen and Partners
 > International (JPI).

I too, would recommend it.

 > help, and excellent documentation.

But not for this reason ! Help ? You mean the unfinished 
"context-sensitive" help that has more to say about TopSpeed C than 
Modula-2 ? (at least in my release...V2 release 1.04) Full of all kinds of 
errors. 

 > Documentation deserves a separate paragraph.  In addition to the
 > traditional manuals for "usage" and "libraries," an excellent "language
 > tutorial" by an individual named K.N. King is included.

Documentation certainly deserves a separate paragraph, but not in the sense 
that you mean ! You can find most of the stuff you're looking for in it, 
but not all in the same place, nor is the information complete or even 
accurate, even when you've done ALL the errata that come on disk. But I 
can excuse them for all this; I think they had to bring the product as soon 
as possible on the market and as a consequence neglected the manuals a bit. 
If they spent more time on the manuals then maybe I wouldn't be using 
version 2 right now...though I wouldn't have lost as much time figuring out 
the difference between previous versions either.

About the tutorial : it would have been nicer if they spent its paper 
on a more complete manual, certainly for the TechKit (which can't really be 
called a manual, just a tiny booklet...the TechKit manual of the previous 
version was more complete in my opinion).
The philosophy of including a tutorial in the package is also a strange 
one. It's like everyone buying all the car models on the market and after 
a trial period decide to use just the one that serves their needs best.
I think people pretty much know what Modula-2 is when they buy the package.

 > also carries TopSpeed C, which seamlessly integrates into the
 > TopSpeed multiple language development environment.

Still cursing the day they decided on carrying this "C", I believe it has 
done more harm than good to their Modula-2.

Let's hope there'll be a next release soon, with all this corrected, though 
I don't think they will give me the update of their manual...

The weather's clearing up (again) in Belgium,
Dominique


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