Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uflorida!haven!adm!xadmx!Damouth.wbst@xerox.com
From: Damouth.wbst@xerox.com
Newsgroups: comp.lang.pascal
Subject: Re: BIN files in Turbo Pascal 3.0
Message-ID: <18504@adm.BRL.MIL>
Date: 2 Mar 89 17:48:32 GMT
Sender: news@adm.BRL.MIL
Lines: 27

I'm not sure I really understand your question, but:

If you update to Turbo Pascal 4.0 or 5.0, you have the ability to have
separately compiled modules, which are automatically linked at run time.  I
think that all of your include files, perhaps with minor restructuring,
could be defined as units and separately compiled.  You don't declare them
external, but rather for units name FOO, FOO1, etc, you have a statement in
your main program like  Uses  FOO.TPU, F001.TPU, etc.   If you have a legal
3.0, you can upgrade to 5.0 fairly cheaply directly from Borland.  Or any
current 5.0 user will probably sell you his 4.0 package real cheap.  (You
can have mine for $30).  5.0 adds the integrated debugger and overlays
(which disappeared in 4.0), and more support for extended memory, 8087,
etc.  The upgrade package for 5.0 plus the stand-alone fancy debugger and
the new Turbo Assembler was around $100. Another $50 gets you  Turbo C as
well.   I found 5.0 well worth it, just for the very convenient integrated
debugger - its good enough so I haven't yet used the standalone debugger.
I never used 3.0 - I went directly from UCSD Pascal to 4.0.  I can't
imagine living without separately compiled units, however.  I indeed keep
all my standard definitions and standard procedures in a separate
pre-compiled unit, and also break my main program into several units, so
that at any given time I am only recompiling a single fairly small body of
code and all the rest of it is static and linked at run time - blindingly
fast.  This completely eliminates the need for include files.

/Dave

/Dave