Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!julius.cs.uiuc.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!zaphod!yoyodyne!liberte
From: liberte@yoyodyne.ncsa.uiuc.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: Think Pascal Wishes...?
Message-ID: <900043@yoyodyne>
Date: 27 Sep 90 22:20:00 GMT
References: <4251@husc6.harvard.edu>
Lines: 32
Nf-ID: #R:husc6.harvard.edu:4251:yoyodyne:900043:000:1543
Nf-From: yoyodyne.ncsa.uiuc.edu!liberte    Sep 27 17:20:00 1990


Here is a suggestion that may satisfy all camps regarding pretty-printing.
And it may be easy to implement, guessing at what TP is doing internally.

There is already an option to not pretty-print, but then you have to
do *all* the formatting yourself.  How about a little help from the
environment, but not too much.  With pretty-printing turned off, one
additional key command (cmd-i?) would indent just the current line
relative to previous lines.  So the editor would go through all the
same contortions it does now to pretty-print, but nothing else would
be changed - only the current line would be indented.

Another command (enter?) would start a new line (like return), and indent
to the right column.  This would allow you to easily combine multiple
statements per line, or break lists where you want.

Highlighting erroneous text should be an independent option whether or
not pretty-printing is active.  I dont recall whether it is now.

I am currently using MPW C, and am not a happy camper.  In addition
to importing more THINK Pascal features to THINK C, more compatibility
with MPW languages and libraries, and MacApp is always needed.

Someone mentioned using Pascal libraries with C and C libraries with
Pascal.  Years ago, there were problems with *incompatible* entry
points (with the same names) between Pascal and C libraries.  I hope
the situation will improve, but I imagine it is a lower priority
since how many people mix languages?

Dan LaLiberte
National Center for Supercomputing Applications
liberte@ncsa.uiuc.edu