Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watnot!watmath!clyde!cbatt!cblpf!cblpe!feb
From: feb@cblpe.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Turbo Pascal Rumor
Message-ID: <482@cblpe.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 2-Apr-87 10:08:09 EST
Article-I.D.: cblpe.482
Posted: Thu Apr  2 10:08:09 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 4-Apr-87 13:31:45 EST
References: <110@usafa.UUCP> <1614@cbmvax.cbmvax.cbm.UUCP>
Reply-To: feb@cblpe.UUCP (55216-Franco Barber)
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories - Columbus
Lines: 44
Keywords: Pascal

In article <1614@cbmvax.cbmvax.cbm.UUCP> mikeb@cbmvax.UUCP (Mike Brenner SW) writes:
>In article <110@usafa.UUCP> watt@usafa.UUCP (Capt Glenn Watt) writes:
>>I heard a rumor at a recent users group meeting that Borland may
>>release Turbo Pascal for the Amiga in the near future.  Later in 
>>Glenn Watt
>
>This is not a rumor. In January Philippe Kahn stated publicly that Borland
>was implementing Turbo Pascal on the Amiga. No further information has been
>released as far as I know.
>Mike Brenner
>Commodore

If anyone out there can get the attention of Phillippe Kahn, could they
suggest he skip over Turbo Pascal for the Amiga and go straight to 
Turbo C? 

I mean, why not! The Amiga is a machine that seems to be built for C
(well, except for that BCPL garbage.) Why muck up the works by
throwing in interface problems by having pascal functions calling C
library functions?

I hate to bring up an example from macland, but it clearly illustrates
my point on mixing languages: the macintosh toolbox rom uses pascal 
interfaces, making it easy to use from pascal. Then apple went and
wrote the operating system calls (open file, i/o control etc.) using
arguments passed in registers (ala assembler or C) instead of the
stack (ala pascal). Thus every compiler has to have built in to its
libraries translation routines to access one or the other set of
funcitons. This is STUPID!!!! (except, of course, for Apple's own
MacPascal interpreter, which just left out the Pascal to C access
routines, making it utterly useless.)

I am under the (possibly wrong!) impression that the Amiga's intuition,
exec, and dos functions have been written with C interfaces. So if 
Borland wants to enter the Amiga market, why not with a C compiler?
Is he afraid there are too many C compilers already out there?
I am under the impression that the various versions of Manx and Lattice
that are out are a) expensive and b) bug ridden. There must be
room in the market for an inexpensive (ala other Borland products)
C compiler that works correctly.

-- 
Franco Barber    AT&T Bell Laboratories, Columbus, Ohio
..!cbatt!cbplf!cblpe!feb                 (614) 860-7803