Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxt!houxm!whuxl!whuxlm!akgua!gatech!seismo!mcvax!ukc!cstvax!db
From: db@cstvax.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.lang.pascal,net.college
Subject: Re: pascal as an intro. language
Message-ID: <75@cstvax.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 6-Mar-86 07:37:49 EST
Article-I.D.: cstvax.75
Posted: Thu Mar  6 07:37:49 1986
Date-Received: Sun, 9-Mar-86 08:44:35 EST
References: <192@bu-cs.UUCP> <4253@ut-sally.UUCP> <433@snow.warwick.UUCP> <4360@ut-sally.UUCP>
Reply-To: db@cstvax.UUCP (Dave Berry)
Organization: Comp. Sc., Edinburgh Univ., Scotland
Lines: 20
Xref: watmath net.lang.pascal:512 net.college:1204

In article <4360@ut-sally.UUCP> ark@sally.UUCP (Arthur M. Keller) writes:
>The main issue appears to be that if you restrict yourself
>to the features of Pascal when teaching Ada, what's wrong with using
>Ada syntax and an Ada compiler?  Pascal can run on lots of
>environments rather efficiently. Pascal is a simple yet powerful language.  

Several articles by Soloway, Bonar, Erlich & co. suggest that the ability
to break out of a loop makes learning to program much easier.  For example,
See CACM vol 26 (1983) pp853-860.  Standard PASCAL doesn't have this feature.
If you want efficient compilers & a simple language, I'd suggest Modula-2.
This also has the advantages of defined string-handling, modules & separate
compilation, instaed of the various ad-hoc hacks to PASCAL to make it a halfway
reasonable programming language.

I can't remember if Modula-2 has a break statement.  If not, I guess ADA should
be considered.

-- 
	Dave Berry. CS postgrad, Univ. of Edinburgh		
					...mcvax!ukc!cstvax!db