Xref: utzoo comp.sys.atari.st:16895 comp.lang.modula2:1542
Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!sun!imagen!atari!kbad
From: kbad@atari.UUCP (Ken Badertscher)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st,comp.lang.modula2
Subject: Type transfer
Summary: Unlike the standard because Wirth's 1-pass is not the standard.
Message-ID: <1526@atari.UUCP>
Date: 5 Jun 89 21:19:17 GMT
References: <340@actisb.UUCP> <1091@gmdzi.UUCP> <342@actisb.UUCP>
Reply-To: kbad@atari.UUCP (Ken Badertscher)
Distribution: comp
Organization: Atari Corp., Sunnyvale, CA
Lines: 20

In article <342@actisb.UUCP> federico@actisb.UUCP (Federico Heinz) writes:
| ... Thanks for the information on type-transfer functions, though
| (as usual, quite, but not totally unlike the standard.  I love it).

I suspect that the PD Modula-2 compiler is based on Wirth's 1-pass compiler.
Type transfer functions (apparently deemed "evil" by the ETH Zurich team
that came up with the 68000 1-pass compiler) were implemented with VAL
in that compiler.  The rationale they gave was that type transfer, as an
inherently unstructured construct, _should_ be difficult to use.

This I learned while studying the 1-pass compiler in my apprenticeship
;-) at Jefferson Software.

I'm inclined to agree, but to avoid fostering Religious Type Wars, I
won't enumerate the reasons why.

-- 
   |||   Ken Badertscher  (ames!atari!kbad)
   |||   Atari R&D System Software Engine
  / | \  #include <disclaimer>