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Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!uwvax!uwmacc!bllklly
From: bllklly@uwmacc.UUCP (Bill Kelly)
Newsgroups: net.bugs.4bsd
Subject: Re: pc doesn't allow an ``others'' clause in outputs
Message-ID: <448@uwmacc.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 9-Nov-84 10:58:44 EST
Article-I.D.: uwmacc.448
Posted: Fri Nov  9 10:58:44 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 10-Nov-84 06:22:26 EST
References: <721@umcp-cs.UUCP> <6141@mcvax.UUCP>
Reply-To: bllklly@maccunix.UUCP (Bill Kelly)
Organization: UWisconsin-Madison Academic Comp Center
Lines: 28
Summary: 

In article <6141@mcvax.UUCP> guido@mcvax.UUCP (Guido van Rossum) writes
in reference to adding an "others" clause to Pascal case statements:
>
>I hope this fix is ignored by every system administrator on the net,
>if they care at all for the languages they're supporting.
>
>Don't you dare call it Pascal any longer, my dear!

I hate to disillusion you, but by your definition, the language pc compiles
wasn't Pascal before!  There are at least a dozen major deviations from
Nicklaus & Wirth spelled out in the pc manual, plus a list of non-standard
predefined functions 2 pages long.  Most of the deviations don't change the
syntax of the language as the others clause does, but they sure have the
same effect on portability!  I think the real question is writability.
Most compiler writers found this feature important enough to break the
standard.

Don Knuth commented on this topic.  His TeX program is written in a
language preprocessed into Pascal.  When asked why he didn't have his
preprocessor translate "others" into code obeying Nicklaus & Wirth, he said
"I thought it would be better to have someone fix the compilers."

Does anyone know whether the ANSI and ISO standards include an "others"?
-- 

Bill Kelly    "Working for paper and for iron."
{allegra, ihnp4, seismo}!uwvax!uwmacc!bllklly
1210 West Dayton St/U Wisconsin Madison/Mad WI 53706