From: sl859@cc.usu.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Pascal OR C ??? New Revelations ???
Date: 22 Jul 92 12:04:16 MDT
Organization: Utah State University

OK, I refuse to post any more of my opinions on a game library.
Aren't we all happy! :) And that one about education, well I've
said what I'm going to.  I am the pinnacle of composure.  I am
after all a mature and sensible person, behind my anti-flame 
force field barracade...

I see another flame war on the horizon, hopefully, we can handle
this one with the dignity it deserves! :)  OK, now to the good 
stuff:
	Recently, I have seen some controversy on the resurgence
of Pascal as a valid high-level language, especially for game
programming.  At first, I was shocked and appalled, because I have
been taught that Pascal is a developmental language to teach the
world to program etc, etc, etc, but now that I have done some 
more indepth study I see where some may find Pascal a good language
to use.  I might comment at this point that the original Pascal 
language is still to my own belief outdated and garbage, but the
Turbo Pascal and other extended versions do have some very nice
features.  Firstly, the inline assembly is actually rather simple
to use, although I still have qualms about how they do it, I have
the same qualms with C.   Also the executables that Pascal produces
are smaller and many times are faster.  I have to admit with
C I always write outrageously long programs mainly because I include
every library in existence!  At times it's nice to not worry about
that though.  I have also recently run into a Pascal compiler by
Stony Brook.  It is phenomenal.  My friend and I generated an assembly
listing and had difficulty optimizing anything we saw!  Since I 
prefer assembly to anything else, this example made me sit back and 
reconsider my position that doing everything in assembly is so much
better than the High level approach. 
	Now to C, I like the fact that you can cast pretty much any
type into any other type without special functions.  I do like the
pointers better, although they do at times tend to behave mysteriously,
and I like the feel of C.  I must say also that here at the university
when I suggest using anything other than C they treat me with contempt
as if I don't know what I am talking about.  I despise that all-snobbish 
opinion that just because you have moved on to C that Pascal is dead and
gone.  Especially after the Stony Brook experience I can say I am not 
ignorant to either.  I just sometimes get the idea that C programmers,
because they haven't mastered it fully (and it is a difficult thing to
do) are threatened by the thought that they might be headed in the 
wrong direction.  I think with all the "improvements" that the industry
has made to C they may have missed the boat themselves.  
	I am open to any suggestions.  I am certain that there are many
people out there sworn to C, but I would suggest you offer more to your
defense besides "I like C its easy to spell..." or "I like C because it's
neat and I think I'm neat..."  I am overly aware there are people who are
converted to C and that's fine.  That's why Fortran is still around. (OK
don't flame me, that's just a concensus local to here.)
					
					wReam...

P.S.  "Gazebo Boy found his only power, the ability to turn into a 
gazebo, useless against the Human Termite!" --What's New ??

Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer