Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!mcnc!gatech!udel!rochester!PT.CS.CMU.EDU!B.GP.CS.CMU.EDU!Ralf.Brown@B.GP.CS.CMU.EDU
From: Ralf.Brown@B.GP.CS.CMU.EDU
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Hands on Turbo Pascal 4.0
Message-ID: <21eaf677@ralf.home>
Date: 13 Jan 88 04:30:47 GMT
Sender: netnews@PT.CS.CMU.EDU
Lines: 62
In-Reply-To: <18590@bu-cs.BU.EDU>

Some comments on Jim Frost's excellent review:

}states several things about version 3.0 which are not documented (so
}far as I could tell, and I *looked*) in the 3.0 manual.  Particularly,
}there is a boolean variable "cbreak" which, in 3.0, supposedly
}controlled whether or not ^C could interrupt a program.  The

Cbreak only took effect when $u and $c were active, i.e. the program 
could temporarily shut off Ctrl-Break checking.

}documentation noted that this variable had been renamed.  I searched
}the 3.0 manual for considerable time but could only find references to
}user break control in the $u and $c compiler directives.  A similar
}note applied to the procedure ExitProc, which the 4.0 manual claimed
}allowed you to redefine the exit procedure of a program.  There was no

ExitProc subsumes the function of ErrorPtr, which allowed you to create 
a custom fatal-error handler.

}The help function within the editor is FANTASTIC.  Unlike that of
}of Turbo C (1.0), it provides quick-reference to just about everything
}discussed in the manual.  Even better, the help uses a hypertext

TC 1.5 now includes help for library functions, just like TP4--put the 
cursor on the function name, and hit Ctrl-F1.  Then use the hypertext 
links to get to related functions.

}everyone's problems, it is interesting to note that the 64K data
}limitation is still in effect.  In addition, the 64K data limitation
}applies to ALL global variables in ALL units.  The manual recommends

Because typed variables now share the data segment with globals, rather 
than the code segment, some programs that worked under 3.0 may run out of
data space under 4.0.

}Several units are included with TPascal.  These include units for
}handling graphics (the graphics support is literally amazing; wait
}until you see how many new graphics programs are about to come out),

Also for TC1.5, because that includes the same functions, with the same 
arguments.  If the author of the TPC TPas-to-C converter updates it to 
handle TP4, graphics programs written in Turbo Pascal will need almost 
no touch-ups after conversion.

}Another useful thing about units is the ability to define
}initialization and exit procedures for each unit.  The first time
}something in a unit is called, an initialization routine is called (if

The initialization code is called *before* the main program begins (see 
pg 89).

}
}jim frost
}ARPA: madd@bu-it.bu.edu
}UUCP: ..!harvard!bu-cs!madd
}BITNET: madd%bu-it.bu.edu@bostonu
}
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