Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!endor!singer
From: singer@endor.harvard.edu (Rich Siegel)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: Lightspeed Pascal Latest Version?
Message-ID: <4661@husc6.harvard.edu>
Date: 25 May 88 13:40:42 GMT
References: <1088@aucs.UUCP>
Sender: news@husc6.harvard.edu
Reply-To: singer@endor.UUCP (Rich Siegel)
Organization: Symantec/THINK Technologies, Bedford, MA
Lines: 69

In article <1088@aucs.UUCP> peter@aucs.UUCP (Peter Steele) writes:
>I had been using Turbo Pascal and had some minor complaints
>with it:
>
>  - not multifinder compatible
>  - cursor keys do not work
>
>I was told to switch to Lightspeed Pascal because it is so much
>better. So, I went and bought a copy through a mail order house,
>Macconnection I believe. The first thing I tried to do was convert
>one of my TurboPascal programs. These are the complaints I have
>about Lightspeed Pascal:
>
>  - not multifinder compatible
>  - cursor keys do not work
>  - does not recognize Lisa Pascal's EXIT statement
>  - does not allow dereferencing to be used in
>    conjunction with type casting

	The above fixes and enhancements will be in version 2.0

>  - does not recognize the newer toolbox routines and constants
>    (such as those dealing with the zoom box)

	For version 1.0 and 1.11, the "ROM85" interface file contains
the 128K ROM routines & constants, and in version 1.11, there are interfaces
to the new 256K ROM routines. 

>  - screen update is slow and unintelligent in the editor, often	

	The editor will be improved in version 2.0

>  - compilation is very slow compared to Turbo Pascal (and other
>    compilers I've used).

	Really? What other compilers? On the Mac, there are Turbo, Lightspeed
MPW, and TML Pascals. The last two are dog-slow, and Lightspeed P
according to some stopwatch work, is within a hair of Turbo's speed.

>  - technique used for font selection of program source display
>    is very poor--I had to cycle through half a dozen fonts to get
>    to Monaco.

	This is improved for version 2.0.

>  - in general, not as compatible with Lisa Pascal as it should be

	Ditto.

>I suspect I'd find more to complain about if I continued to use it,

	Yes, like the high-level symbolic debuggng with expression
evaluation, ability to execute code fragments in context, and a graphical
interface to see the stack frames, registers, and heap. And the project
file to keep your sources up to date and only recompile that which needs
to be recompiled.

		-Rich

(Lightspeed Pascal Defender of the Faith)



Rich Siegel
Quality Assurance Technician
THINK Technologies Division, Symantec Corp.
Internet: singer@endor.harvard.edu
UUCP: ..harvard!endor!singer
Phone: (617) 275-4800 x305