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From: cszthomas@qut.edu.au
Newsgroups: comp.lang.modula2,comp.edu
Subject: Re: Implementing Abstract Lists
Message-ID: <13227.26b9800a@qut.edu.au>
Date: 3 Aug 90 13:45:46 GMT
References: <290@saxony.pa.reuter.COM> <8974@ubc-cs.UUCP>
Organization: Queensland University of Technology
Lines: 43

In article <8974@ubc-cs.UUCP>, manis@cs.ubc.ca (Vincent Manis) writes:
> Sorry, Modula-2 isn't really suitable for generic "container" ADT's such
> as List, Stack, Queue, etc. (i.e., all the stuff of computer science).
> There is a way to do it, namely by using ADDRESS values, and casting the
> actual parameters to type ADDRESS in calls to the ADT procedures, but
> it's a crock. 

Agreed.  In the early days of Modula-2 two of us tried setting up generics
in M2 and gave up because of poor language support.

> Wirth has abandoned Modula. His new language, Oberon, provides garbage
> collection, and allows a limited form of structure inheritance. The
> result is that you can have a List module. You can then declare an
> IntegerList record type, inheriting from List. (Note that Oberon isn't
> object-oriented: inheritance affects fields, not methods.) The List
> procedures will work with IntegerLists with no problem.

As a note, ETH has also developed an Object Oberon as well.

> I switched from Modula-2 to C in my data structures course last year.
> Afterwards, I really felt that I had lost almost nothing. This isn't a
> compliment to C, but a criticism of Modula. It really doesn't help you
> very much with the tough problems. 

I am curious has to how you justify this paragraph?  Granted M2 doesn't
support generics, but neither does C.  Then there are all of the facilities
in M2 that C doesn't have.

> --
> \    Vincent Manis <manis@cs.ubc.ca>      "There is no law that vulgarity and
>  \   Department of Computer Science      literary excellence cannot coexist."
>  /\  University of British Columbia                        -- A. Trevor Hodge
> /  \ Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1W5 (604) 228-2394

If I was in a nasty mood I would say: "Ah, UBC, that explains your ideas,
and that also explains why I never went to UBC."

Au revoir,

@~~Richard Thomas  aka. The AppleByter  --  The Misplaced Canadian~~~~~~~~~~~@
{ InterNet: R_Thomas@qut.edu.au           ACSNet:  richard@earth.qitcs.oz.au }
{ PSI:      PSI%505272223015::R_Thomas                                       }
@~~~~~School of Computing Science - Queensland University of Technology~~~~~~@