Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!mips!apple!agate!ucbvax!mis.mcw.edu!TENAGLIA From: TENAGLIA@mis.mcw.edu (Chris Tenaglia - 257-8765) Newsgroups: comp.lang.icon Subject: Comparative Languages (icon vs perl etal) Message-ID: Date: 9 Apr 91 14:01:00 GMT Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Distribution: inet Organization: The Internet Lines: 25 I run icon under VMS. I use it usually as a file filter. Typical languages such as BASIC, FORTRAN, PASCAL, and C may generate faster running code, but I usually find myself spending all my time fighting typed variables. VMS has a shell language called DCL which is easy to program, but it's interpreted and runs 10 times slower than icon in regards to file I/O. I often find myself making DCL/icon hybrid applications. DCL offers much faster screen I/O, so I use it to front end icon filters which are much faster with file I/O. As far as structured languages go, Icon has one thing to it's advantage that all the other 'structured' languages lack. No GOTO. The other languages preach against GOTO, yet implement it anyway. Icon doesn't even acknowledge its existence and thus, no GOTO. In my years of Icon programming, I've never needed a GOTO in it. Apparently it was well thought out and implemented. There is another string handling language in the genre of icon and perl. It's ABC. I've seen it for PC and MAC. I've heard it exists for unix, and a VMS implementation is in the works. It's a nifty interactive environment set up to handle strings. It doesn't have a lot of features, but it looks like it my be a nice first programming to teach. Chris Tenaglia (System Manager) | Medical College of Wisconsin 8701 W. Watertown Plank Rd. | Milwaukee, WI 53226 (414)257-8765 | tenaglia@mis.mcw.edu, mcwmis!tenaglia