Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!know!samsung!sdd.hp.com!ucsd!ogicse!plains!bakke From: bakke@plains.NoDak.edu (Jeffrey P. Bakke) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc Subject: Re: Turbo Pascal vs. C Message-ID: <5953@plains.NoDak.edu> Date: 21 Sep 90 19:01:27 GMT References: <1990Sep20.164153.28641@portia.Stanford.EDU> Distribution: comp Organization: North Dakota State University, Fargo Lines: 48 In article <1990Sep20.164153.28641@portia.Stanford.EDU> dma@nova.stanford.edu (Domingo A. Mihovilovic) writes: > Yes!, Turbo Pascal is the best system to develop programs today. It has > all extensions and capabilities you will need ( from the lowest level to > objects ). ...ETC ABOUT TP > The only reason to use something different would be portability to some > other platform, but is you are interested only in the IBM PC TPascal 5.5 > is the best choice. > > Domingo Mihovilovic A. > dma@nova.stanford.edu I use Turbo Pascal 5.5 and Turbo C++ 1.0 (actually none of the C++ extensions yet) and I would recommend Pascal if you're simply looking to start programming or if you're looking into programs where you're applying generalized programming applications. If your writing a Database program or Inventory Control, or something along those lines, Pascal is definitely easier to learn and to debug. On the other hand if you plan to be writing Hardware interfaced programs (Hard Drive, High Speed Video, Serial Port Control, etc) C would probably be a better choice. Although it is harder to learn and even harder still to become proficient at (many ways to do 1 thing) C is also infinitely more flexible and powerful when it comes to low-level applications. If you need your programs to execute faster, C would also be the better choice. Good C code, with a good optimizing compiler is second only to assembly in execution speed (and infinitely easier to code). C is also more flexible as far as being able to allocate large quantities of memory and work with multiple memory models. Pascal is limited to 64K maximum data allocations (unless you spend time with messy alternates) and it is hard to interface Pascal with other languages. C is easier to interface with other Object code. Anyway, you need to look at what your programming requirements are. You can't simply look at two languages and ask a generalized question about which is better. Supposedly, you should be able to write any necessary code or function in any language you choose but some languages may make it much harder to implement your requirements. Ok, in my opinion C is more flexible and powerful than Pascal, but Pascal is much more user-friendly and easier to use.... -- Jeffrey P. Bakke Internet: bakke@plains.NoDak.edu UUCP : ...!uunet!plains!bakke BITNET : bakke@plains.bitnet