HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: stella@glg.ucs.dec.com (STella)
Subject: Documentation Survey for DEC's Compilers
Followup-To: poster
Reply-To: stella@glg.ucs.dec.com (STella)
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 92 04:11:12 GMT

The documentation professionals who write both hardcopy and online information
in support of Digital's compilers would like your opinion.  The purpose is to 
improve how we provide product information to programmers who use our compilers.

We value your opinion and are eager to hear from you.  We will acknowledge all
respondents and send a compilation of the survey's results to all who respond.

Please return this survey to stella@glg.ucs.dec.com.


Thanks and Regards,

John E O'Neil, Documentation Supervisor	oneil@casdoc.enet.dec.com 
Mike Etzel, Fortran 
Barbara Bishop, Ada
Ron Johnson, Pascal
Neil Savage, C++
John Paolillo, C


		QUESTIONNAIRE
                -------------

What programming languages (and what percentage of time are they used?)
does your organization use? 

__ Ada  __ C  __ Cobol  __ C++  __ Fortran  __ Pascal  __ Other(please specify) 


How much mixed-language programming do you do, and what languages do you use?


Do you port programs from one system to another? If so, which systems?


In support of your programming activities, how much do your programmers
depend on finding reference and tutorial information from HARDCOPY books? 

____ 100% of time  ____ 75% of time  ____ 50% of time  ____  25% of time
____  Other


How much do your programmers depend on finding reference or tutorial 
information from ELECTRONIC or ONLINE information sources?  

____ 100% of time  ____ 75% of time  ____ 50% of time  ____ 25% of time
____ Other


What is the biggest improvement that can be made in providing reference
and tutorial information in either online or hardcopy format for compilers?


In 1993, what percent of programmers at your site do you expect will be
primarily using:

___ % Workstations  ___ % PCs connected to window servers  ___ % PCs standalone
___ % Character cell terminals


There are certain ways to find information, such as the table of contents,
the index, alphabetical listings, and so on.  However, all of these put
the burden of finding information on the end user.  What can you suggest
that makes finding information easier and faster?


What software vendor stands out as having superior quality, accuracy and
usability in the reference and tutorial information it provides with the
programming languages it sells?  

Would you care to comment on what is important, and what to avoid, in the
software industry? For example, is Windows NT from Microsoft an 
important platform for the future?  Is an immediate and heavy investment in 
object-oriented programming a must?


Can you envision multimedia information in support of compilers?  For example, 
simply click to see a full motion video lecture on the exact nature of a
particular error message.  Or click again to get an animated overview of a
compiler's new features.


Can you comment on any of the reference or tutorial information that
accompanies any of Digital's compilers?
From: roth@oasys.dt.navy.mil (Pete Roth)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.pascal
Subject: Re: Undocumented Feature?  Was: behavior of typed constants in subroutines
Date: 14 Oct 92 12:20:21 GMT
Reply-To: roth@oasys.dt.navy.mil (Pete Roth)
Organization: The David Taylor Model Basin

In comp.lang.pascal, thompson@atlas.socsci.umn.edu (T. Scott Thompson) writes:
[...much deleted]
>IMHO the best way (in TP) to implement "static" variables is to make
>them global.  If you want to hide them from code outside your
>procedure, then put them in the implementation section of a unit
>defining the procedure.

The BEST (TP5.5+) way is to make the "static" variable a field of an object.
You can even make it PRIVATE so the rest of the world can't muck with it
except through a controlled interface.

regards, pete
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Peter N Roth      roth@oasys.dt.navy.mil
You can take a horse to water, but a pencil must be lead.
Newsgroups: comp.lang.pascal
From: kwe3740@ultb.isc.rit.edu (K.W. Estes)
Subject: DELAY in TPW
Originator: kwe3740@ultb
Organization: Rochester Institute of Technology
Distribution: usa
Date: Sun, 11 Oct 1992 18:34:01 GMT


In TP v5.5, I can use the DELAY command, now I'm using TPW 1.5 and
couldn't use DELAY command.

Is there an other way to replace this command?  Using WM_Timer is not
friendly....  What I'm trying to do is to place a sequence in a tight
timings.

For example...

If Doors_open then
Begin
  Close(Door1);
  Delay(5000);  (5 Seconds to close the Door #1);
  Lock(Door1);  (Door 1 is locked) 
  Close(Door2);
  Delay(6500);  (6.5 Seconds to close the Door #2) 
  Lock(Door2);  (Door 2 is locked) 
  For I=1 to 5 do;
  Begin i
    ResetAlarm(On);    (The 5 loops are to enter passwords to set )
    Delay(1000);       (the alarm, this is an idea....)
    ClearAlarm(Off);
    Delay(2000); 
  End;
End;.


Any ideas on converting it to Windows TP v1.5?  A Simple way has to be
used, and the timing has to be fairly accurate!

Thanks!

-- 
###################################################################
       kwe3740@ultb.isc.rit.edu    <--- For high voltage mail
       kwe3740@ritvax.isc.rit.edu  <--- For low voltage mail
       K.W.Estes  "Beefy's my name, Technology's my game!"
Newsgroups: comp.lang.pascal,comp.graphics,rec.games.programmer
From: clane@csws2.ic.sunysb.edu ()
Subject: Sprite animation lib, preferences in output destination specification
Originator: clane@csws2.ic.sunysb.edu
Keywords: Graphics, sprites, animation
Organization: State University of New York at Stony Brook
Date: Fri, 16 Oct 1992 16:01:24 GMT

	Hello all.  I would like some opinions on the following question:

	-When using a graphics library, would you prefer that there be:
		1) a global variable
		2) a parameter for each function
		3) both 1 and 2
         
	 to determine destination of data from graphics functions.

	With 1, if you want to write to a page other than CurrentPage,
you must first change it before calling the function.
	CurrentPage := 0;
	PutPixel(10,10,15);
	CurrentPage := 1;
	Line(25,25,50,25);

	With 2, you are required to specify the page for every call to
a function involving pages as data destination.
	PutPixel(10,10,15,0);
			  ^--this means write to page 0.
	Line(25,25,50,25,1);
			 ^--this means write to page 1.

	With 3 (I may go with this one), you can pass CurrentPage to all
functions that always write to the current page in your program.  In addition
one can pass a page number dependent on <whatever> or hardcode a page number
into the function.  This is the most flexible method, I think.
	function WhichPage : byte;
	 begin
	  case foo of
	   'A' : WhichPage := 0;
	   'B' : WhichPage := 1;
	   else WhichPage := 2;
	  end {case}

	PutPixel(10,10,15,CurrentPage);
	PutPixel(20,20,15,WhichPage);
	Line(25,25,50,25,CurrentPage);
	Circle(50,100,12,0);
			 ^--this means write to page 0.

-- 
                          | "So who is this Al Gorithm guy they keep
Charles F. Lane           |  mentioning in my Computer Science classes?"
clane@Libws1.ic.sunysb.edu|
From: bteo@tartarus.uwa.edu.au (Teo Boon Cheang)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.pascal
Subject: Turbo Pascal for Windows
Date: 8 Oct 1992 06:52:44 GMT
Organization: The University of Westrn Australia
NNTP-Posting-Host: tartarus.uwa.edu.au
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL5

I have just started some trival programming with TPW 1.0 
I must admit it simplfies programming of user interface quite a bit, but
the editor is slow and painful to use (probably due to windows intensive
graphics)

Anyhow, I need to find out a couple of things :

(1) How can I get a .BMP file up as a background?
(2) How do I launch another window application from within TPW?
    eg.  Selecting an option in the application can launch the windows 
         calculator, or another TPW program (sort of like TSR?) 

Any info appreciated.
From: jhnbru03@uctvax.uct.ac.za (Bruce D Johnson)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.pascal
Subject: Re: Testing File Name Validity...
Date: 9 Oct 92 10:43:11 +0200
Organization: University of Cape Town

In article <1992Oct7.115347.1978@monu6.cc.monash.edu.au>, kevinlu@yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au (Kevin Lu) writes:
> HALL (ahall@nmsu.edu) wrote:
>> I am writing a program in TP60 that prompts the user for a DOS filename.
>> The file may, or may not, exist.  My question is, what is the best way to
>> test a string to see if it is a valid file name?  I am not even sure what
>> characters are valid.  Are any of these : !@#$%^& ?  Any suggestions?
>> A. Hall
>> 
> 
> Use the function contained in the dos (or is that system??)  unit that
> qualifies a filename, and check to see if DosError reports file not found
> or no more files.. (when you qualify a filename, it returns the exact path
> to the filename ie C:\DOS\COMMAND.COM)
> 
> FExpand i think it is called. (FExpand does not open the file for access).
> Alternately, you could use the Assign procedure, then a Reset and then
> check the DosError variable..
> 
>   |  Kevin Lu                              | Monash University             |
>   |  Email: kevinlu@yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au  | Clayton, Victoria             |

I thought of this as well Kevin, but I don't think it's enough. I have a
sneaky suspicion (?) that Dos accepts stuff that  is invalid. 
eg file names containing spaces - these do not always generate an error.
Also be careful with filename that are too long eg WONDERFUL1.DAT and
WONDERFUL2.DAT. How does FExpand handle these ? Simple truncation ?
If DOS gets the chance it will just do a simple truncation, giving very
nasty results.

This is not a flame, and I must admit I haven't used FExpand, but the
message is clear.... Whatever you do here, TEST very well before
accepting that it works.

Cheers
Bruce
jhnbru03@uctvax.uct.ac.za
"There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want" - Calvin
From: dmurdoch@mast.queensu.ca (Duncan Murdoch)
Subject: Re: Testing File Name Validity...
Organization: Queen's University
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1992 20:45:36 GMT

In article <1992Oct9.194413.3200@nmsu.edu> ahall@nmsu.edu (HALL) writes:
>that could be assigned to a file.  I have received several diferent
>replies as to whether these are valid file name characters, !@#$%^&().
>Some say yes, some say no.

There's a simple test:  just try

  echo test >!@#$%^&(.)

On my system (and I suspect on any DOS compatible one) it creates a file
called !@#$%^&(.)  

Certain replacement shells may well have trouble with filenames like this, 
but DOS doesn't.

Duncan Murdoch
dmurdoch@mast.queensu.ca
Newsgroups: comp.lang.pascal
From: jeroenp@rulfc1.LeidenUniv.nl (Jeroen W. Pluimers)
Subject: Re: Undocumented Feature?  Was: behavior of typed constants in subroutines
Organization: Dept. FMC, Gorlaeus Labs, Leiden University, The Netherlands
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 92 00:57:20 GMT

In article <dmurdoch.223.719071235@mast.queensu.ca> dmurdoch@mast.queensu.ca (Duncan Murdoch) writes:
>
>Lots of people (even me :-) have called for a change to this.  The consensus 
>seems to be that typed constants should really be constant; any assignment 
>to them should be a syntax error.  To get the functionality that they 
>currently have, Borland should introduce initialized variables, with 
>the same declaration syntax but appearing in a Var block.  For example:

The key problem is that typed constants are in fact initialized variables.
Maybe Borland will change it's mind about this when lot's of people ask,
but I doubt, as it will break a lot of existing code (including mine).

--
    o _   _  _   _   _             voice: +31-2522-20908 (19:00-24:00 UTC)
   / (_' |  (_) (_' | |            snail: P.S.O.
__/                                       attn. Jeroen W. Pluimers
                                          P.O. Box 266
jeroenp@rulfc1.LeidenUniv.nl              2170 AG Sassenheim
jeroen_pluimers@f256.n281.z2.fidonet.org  The Netherlands
Newsgroups: comp.lang.pascal,comp.lang.modula2
From: randy@psg.com (Randy Bush)
Subject: Re: UCSD Availability
Keywords: UCSD Pascal USUS
Organization: Pacific Systems Group, Portland Oregon, US
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1992 05:14:56 GMT

heb@unlinfo.unl.edu (henry baumgarten) writes:

> USUS would like and needs to acquire for its archives many missing pieces
> of the p-System

I kept the sources and objects for just about every SCUD release from
1.3 to 4.1.  Heck, I still have Sage-II serial #1 comissioned so I can
read old diskies.  Now please explain to me and the others here why we
should contribute to Compu$erve's profits?  Why not just put it up for
FTP, which I am willing to do iff the Regents would approve?

Also, could you please enumerate which versions of what have been freed?
E.g., ASE and the other Violation stuff, ...?

randy
-- 
randy@psg.com   ...!uunet!m2xenix!randy
Newsgroups: comp.lang.pascal
From: gabriel@netcom.com (Gabriel Beccar-Varela)
Subject: Passing types as parameters
Followup-To: This news group 
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services  (408 241-9760 guest) 
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1992 00:54:16 GMT

   I would like to pass a descendant type as a parameter in a procedure.
The procedure should be able to allocate memory to it, call the constructor,
and insert the object in a window, or Desktop or whatever. I would appreciate
any ideas of how to achieve this. Thank you.
Newsgroups: comp.lang.pascal
From: rwirthli@nyx.cs.du.edu (Ralph Wirthlin)
Subject: Re: Turbo Pascal --> Turbo C translator
Organization: University of Denver, Dept. of Math & Comp. Sci.
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 92 14:28:58 GMT


>Have you checked the information in the Frequently Asked Questions
>already?

This is absurd, more bandwidth is wasted pointing out that there is
a FAQ list and how to get it all over the world then answering the
question, especially a question this simple.

Yes, there are Turbo Pascal to C translators on wsmr-simtel20.army.mil
and at wuarchive.wustl.edu under
pd1:<msdos.turbopas>tptc17.arc   - Turbo Pascal to C translator
pd1:<msdos.turbopas>tptcsc.arc   - Source code to translator
pd1<msdos.turbopas>info.arc      - Information on translator
pd1:<msdos.c>t2c.arc             - Turbo pascal to c translator
(This is at simtel)
I don't know how these work, I just know of their existence.


See how painless it was?
From: nyhl@ursa.calvin.edu
Newsgroups: comp.lang.pascal
Subject: (none)
Date: 14 Oct 92 21:05:13 GMT

Does anyone know if UNIX Pascal compilers that support units (ala
Turbo or THINK) and/or objects (ala Turbo or THINK)?  In particular,
such a version of Pascal for SUNs?

Larry Nyhoff
Dept. of Math. & Comp. Sci
Calvin College
3201 Burton SE
Grand Rapids, MI  49546
616-957-6351
nyhl@calvin.edu
From: ioi@stipple.seas.upenn.edu (Ioi Kim Lam)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.pascal
Subject: BGI Bugs Fix Wanted
Date: 14 Oct 92 21:50:28 GMT
Organization: University of Pennsylvania


I am using TP6.0 for my graphical user interface program. Some severe bugs (or
features) are haunting me. The function SetViewport does not have any effect
on PutImage. Sometimes a viewport clips the output and sometimes doesn't. The 
text put to a vieport is messed up when the text is on the edge of the 
viewport. Does anyone have a solution to this problem?

Also, standard BGI does not support 2 pages for VGAHi. Are there any 3rd party
BGI's that support that in a super vga card (w/ 1 MB RAM).

Thanks in advance.

Ioi ( footnote : the Magic Dragon ).
Newsgroups: comp.lang.pascal
From: frankp@iplmail.orl.mmc.com (Frank Postava)
Subject: TP 5.5 bug ?
Keywords: TP 5.5, printer port
Organization: Martin Marietta
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1992 14:54:48 GMT

HELP...

I have a package on the market written in TP 5.5 and have recently
experienced a problem.  It happened on one printer, so I said it
was the printer, but now it has repeated itself so....

I have installed the identical package (from the same install diskette,
the install script has no options) on a ZEOS laptop 386sx and a 
386xs clone desktop.  Word Perfect has absolutley no problem printing
from either machine, but the TP 5.5 program (using 'lst' to print) prints
garbage from the desktop and fine from the ZEOS!  

I had originally thought that the desktop had 'weak signals' or 
something and was having trouble driving the printer because I 
tried the following.  I hooked up a oki320 and put it in hex
dump mode, ran my program from both machines, and got the 
same output!  Therefore, the oki laser must be the culprit.

Now, a customer called with a NEC 95 laser and has the same problem.

WHAT GIVES ? Any suggestions ?

THANKS IN ADVANCE


<> < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > <>
< frank-postava@orl.mmc.com   : Wave upon wave of demented avengers >
< Frank Postava               : march cheerfully out of obscurity   >
< Martin Marietta             : into the dream...                   >
< Electronic Systems Company  :                                     >
<> < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > <>
From: dudley.atkinson@nitelog.com (Dudley Atkinson)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.pascal
Subject: TP and large project
Date: 9 Oct 92 08:16:00 GMT
Reply-To: dudley.atkinson@nitelog.com (Dudley Atkinson)
Organization: Nitelog BBS - Monterey, CA - 408-655-1096

To: gangfang@cc.utah.edu (GANG FANG)

GF>situation is getting worse as the dependencies between modules increas
GF>totally out of control. Redesign the program is almost impossible can 
GF>provide a reasonable solution to this problem?
GF>	Thanks in advance for any response.
GF>-GF- 
GF>

    Some redesign is inevitable, so I suggest making as many of the 
independent function and procedure calls into libraries as possible.  In 
Windows these are DLL's, and in TP6 they must be some sort of *.ovl file 
or maybe DLL?  I don't know how you implement function libraries, but that 
is what you need, since that would allow independent compilation of the 
code into separate executable segments.


                    Dudley

---
 . WinQwk 2.0 a#0 . Unregistered Evaluation Copy
From: enevill@acorn.co.uk (Edward Nevill)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.pascal
Subject: Wanted: Benchmark programs
Date: 15 Oct 92 13:35:40 GMT
Organization: Acorn Computers Ltd, Cambridge, England


Does anyone have Pascal versions of Dhrystone, Whetstone or any
other benchmarks.

Figures for other platforms, so that I have something to compare
against, would also be useful.

Thanks in advance,

Edward (enevill@acorn.co.uk)
Organization: Queen's University at Kingston
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1992 22:19:22 EDT
From: John G. Spragge <SPRAGGEJ@QUCDN.QueensU.CA>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.pascal
Subject: program structure

Pascal programmers have a bad habit (I have it myself) of approaching
structure and coding standards as a matter of religion; the kind of
issue programmers would have burned one another at the stake over, had
computers existed in the middle ages (borrowed metaphor). Hence the
flames over constants, and whether to use named or literal constants.

Perhaps we could write in our favourite coding rules, just for the
sake of comparison, without (please) phrases such as "if you don't
do x, y, and z, you're a LAME coder and not worth your computer time."

Principles:

1) Discipline is a source of creativity, not an impediment to it.

2) Never let anything get so long you can't understand it.Try not
   to let anything get so long your dog can't understand it.

3) Computer time is usually cheaper than errors, so keep it simple,
   even if simple takes longer.

4) Computer languages rigorously define the verbs, and say nothing about
the nouns, so comment your variables.

5) Really meaningful variable names are good, but too long most of
   the time; I use comments on my variable definitions.

6) Comment your formal parameters. Make sure the unfortunate who has
   to maintain the program(and who could easily be you) understands
   what goes in and what goes out.

7) Beware of side effects. C this isn't. If you want to use C, go ahead
   (I do, but I try not to compile it with a Pascal compiler).

8) Resign yourself to the sad truth: Pascal is NOT portable.

9) use a standard format, so you always know what you are looking at.

These are the basic rules I live by, NOT the rules everyone should
live by. I would be interested in corresponding ideas from other people.
I would be interested in comments (within the bounds of decorum) from
others.

Your culture will adapt to service ours - Columbus to Natives, 1492
Your culture will adapt to service ours - Borg to Captain Picard, 24th C.

standard disclaimers apply ----------------------- John G. Spragge
From: ioi@stipple.seas.upenn.edu (Ioi Kim Lam)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.pascal
Subject: Address of Borland Wanted
Date: 14 Oct 92 21:57:35 GMT
Organization: University of Pennsylvania

Does anyone know the e-mail address for Borland Inc and Microsoft? Please let me know. Thanks in advance.

Ioi ( footnote the Magic Dragon).
From: pf@bilbo.bio.purdue.edu (Paul Furbacher)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.pascal
Subject: Re: TP 6.0 or 5.5 Killed my HD
Date: 13 Oct 92 05:59:10 GMT
Distribution: comp.lang.pascal
Organization: Purdue University

In article <1992Oct13.012438.14294@trl.oz.au>, 
  jbm@hal.trl.OZ.AU (Jacques Guy) wrote about TP attacking
his hard disk with a vengence and denied that he could have 
made a few programming mistakes (well, he admitted to the 
possibility of a few "misplaced" pointers):

[much stuff deleted]

If you continue to have these problems, it's time to 
sit back and think about what you can do to remedy the
problem instead of insisting that others, who have tried 
to help you, a full of it.  You know, programming is a logical
and not an emotional exercize.  Logical problem solving, not 
name calling.

Now, if someone came to you and said "it seems to have gone into 
an endless loop" what would you suggest as a preventative 
measure?

How about:

1) program into your loop an escape (there's even a key on the 
   keyboard with that name -- mon dieu) using 
   
      if keypressed then
      begin
        ch := readkey;
        if ch = ESC then
        begin
          close(F);
          exit;
        end;
      end;

    Too simple -- go to the net first and warn everyone about
    the dangers of TP.

2) if you're not testing from the IDE, make sure SetCBreak(true)
   is somewhere in your startup code.  This does not save you in 
   a graceful way but it's better than rebooting. When you've 
   finally debugged it and it's bulletproof, re-compile with 
   it off.

3) now it's time for you think of some other rational strategies.
   Sorry if this sounds too tough, but you've got to take up more 
   of the challenge yourself.

In addition, your advice to us about backing up our files is like 
preaching to the choir.  Most of us have our lives invested in our
code, so backing up is a religion. No, it's an obsession.

PF