> Hmmm ... the only feature that Pascal lacks IMO is call-by-name, Labels in Pascal are more like Fortran than Algol; strictly numeric. Prior to the ISO standard, you didn't have conformant array parameters, which made Pasal almost useless for handling arrays.
As to call by name, it's extremely useful for, e.g., integration subroutines. Of course, it's not needed in languages with procedure parameters. -- Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz http://mason.gmu.edu/~smetz3 ________________________________________ From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU> on behalf of Bernd Oppolzer <bernd.oppol...@t-online.de> Sent: Tuesday, July 16, 2019 2:51 PM To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU Subject: Re: Where put the notional constant in a condition (Was RE: JCL COND Parameter) Am 16.07.2019 um 20:40 schrieb Seymour J Metz: >> Pascal makes the same difference between := (assignment) and = (comparison) > Pascal is a castrated version of Algol 60, Hmmm ... the only feature that Pascal lacks IMO is call-by-name, but this is something not easy to understand (and explain) to today's developers and the value of this concept is questionable. Pascal has a very rich type concept and is easy to learn and to understand, and you can write significant programs using it (although it needs some extensions to the standard to be really useful). >> So does C. > You're missing Charles Mills's point; in C it is easy to type "=" where you > meant "=="; typing ":=" when you meant "=" is much less likely. Ok, this is indeed dangerous and needs much care, when coding C; if (x = 5) changes x to 5 and is always true; you will only get a warning, if you are compiling with sensible warning options. Kind regards Bernd ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
