Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!execu!sequoia!rpp386!aubrey From: aubrey@rpp386.cactus.org (Aubrey McIntosh) Newsgroups: comp.lang.modula2 Subject: Re: PIM3/PIM4 and JPI M2 Message-ID: <18472@rpp386.cactus.org> Date: 28 Jul 90 14:33:37 GMT References: <2301.26AF3E2A@puddle.fidonet.org> Reply-To: aubrey@rpp386.UUCP (Aubrey McIntosh) Organization: vima, Austin TX Lines: 42 In article <2301.26AF3E2A@puddle.fidonet.org> Peter.M..Perchansky@f101.n273.z1.fidonet.org (Peter M. Perchansky) writes: >Hello Pat: > > Thank you for your post. > > Please think of all the concrete examples you can think about. If you can site specific chapters or pages in PIM3/PIM4, all the better. > > I believe I finally got Chris (JPI Tech Support) willing to listen about possible PIM3/PIM4 deviations. > > If we can provide solid evidence of deviations (extensions do not count), then I believe JPI maybe willing to add a compiler switch to flag those items --- or fix them. I supervised a project that used an old version of JPI, 1.01 or therabouts. I would have been much more willing to support JPI if there had been some way to have the compiler evaluate a program as strict, minimalist Modula-2. There were two rationals behind this. 1) Surely another vendor will happen along that has a compiler that does everything I need for some future project. If I let the shop spread the extensions through the code, I'm trapped. Now this might seem to be a good marketing decision on JPI's part, but I know for a fact that many shops do use 'second source availability' as a purchasing criterion for many products, and I certainly am aware of it when I buy software tools. 2) The extensions typically give the relaxation of some protection. I ended up debugging an associates code, where he used Trick records and the relaxed typechecking in JPI's compiler. The record in question involved BYTE/WORD size folderol, and matching code to emulate an existing package. The JPI compiler accepted the code, but popped the wrong number of bytes from the stack on return. I believe that the time spent tracking this error down could have been spent writing a transportable piece of code that was clear, easy to maintain, safe. To the extent that I can influence Things That Become, I'd encourage the vendors to make their products work with each others. I'm not advocating that they be identical, and I certainly like the speed that JPI offers just as I like the Tools that Logitech offers. It's just a shame that the discipline to keep them compatible has to be present in junior people. -- Aubrey McIntosh "Find hungry samurai." -- The Old Man 1502 Devon Circle comp.os.minix, comp.lang.modula2 Austin, TX 78723 1-(512)-452-1540 (v)