Why I use Object Pascal • Hacker News Board

Re: Why I use Object Pascal

#181

Post by dubst3pp4 » Tue, Oct 17, 2017, 8:51 PM UTC

rufusroflpunch wrote: post #140

dmix wrote: post #115

How are the available packages? Is there a package management system ala `bundler` or `npm`? This to me is a critical piece of adopting a language, especially a non-mainstream one. Pascal has the benefit of being older but access to clean modern libraries is critical. Pascal looks like an excellent option for building cross-platform desktop apps, given the excellent GUI libraries. But I doubt I'm sold enough on it fo…

This is a pretty critical piece for me as well. I've done some googling and I can't find anything definitive.

Lazarus has a concept of packages for years. There is a newly created package manager to handle updates and dependencies as well: http://wiki.freepascal.org/Online_Package_Manager

But I don’t think that it is comparable to gem/npm or whatever yet...

Re: Why I use Object Pascal

#182

Post by rodgerd » Tue, Oct 17, 2017, 8:52 PM UTC

kibwen wrote: post #147

chubot wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think anyone really disagrees with you -- most people have problems with the syntax of Perl, C, and C++. Sure, they can get used to it, particularly with C because it's small, but the syntax isn't why they use the language. Somewhat surprisingly, I think Perl's syntax is one of the reasons that Python became popular. Perl can do pretty much everything Python can, and it came significantly earlier. Yet people…

> Perl can do pretty much everything Python can, and it came significantly earlier. Yet people gravitated toward Python. I don't think syntax is the main culprit here, and Perl is only four years older than Python. For about 15 years Python tried, unsuccessfully, to compete with Perl as the premier language for shell scripting and sysadmin tasks. It wasn't until around 2005 that Python finally caught on, its rise coi…

> I don't think syntax is the main culprit here,

It's more culture than syntax; Python culture tends to favour adhering to a common style, while Perl culture tends to valorise clever or even poetic implementation.

Re: Why I use Object Pascal

#183

Post by _pdp_ » Tue, Oct 17, 2017, 8:53 PM UTC

Apollo Computer used Pascal as the systems programming language for its operating systems beginning in 1980. Variants of Pascal have also frequently been used for everything from research projects to PC games and embedded systems.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal_(programming_language)

Re: Why I use Object Pascal

#184

Post by alyandon » Tue, Oct 17, 2017, 8:57 PM UTC

ido wrote: post #121

pcunite wrote: post #119

I wrote the first version of Outlook Profiler in Delphi 6, then in Delphi 7. Wonderful introductory language for making products (although Perl was my first exposure). The VCL GUI library and IDE work so well together that things today are second rate. Strange that we've not improved this basic need. Today, I write most things in C++ (or C# if I can).

I always felt it’s really strange that making a quick and dirty GUI application is still easier with Visual Basic 4.0 (circa 1995) than with most any modern tool.

VB4 was also able to produce both 16 bit and 32 bit binaries. That was a big help for the Windows 3.11 -> Windows 95 transition.

Re: Why I use Object Pascal

#185

Post by Joeri » Tue, Oct 17, 2017, 9:01 PM UTC

slig wrote: post #127

_pdp_ wrote: post #116

My dad still runs his business on a software I wrote in 1998 in Delphi. I haven't touched it since then but it is the only code I have that still works 19 years later.

Does it runs on modern Windows or is it running on a VM?

I sometimes use ecco pro on windows 10, which was discontinued in 1997. The 32-bit version still works well enough to remain usable.

Re: Why I use Object Pascal

#186

Post by justin66 » Tue, Oct 17, 2017, 9:18 PM UTC

idlewan wrote: post #131

The Nim language [0] feels very inspired by Pascal while looking like Python. If you're interested in fast, compiled & typed languages, I suggest you also take a look at it. I personally love its readability. [0]: https://nim-lang.org/

I'm curious what's similar to pascal about it? It's garbage collected, it compiles to C or JavaScript, and its syntax is inspired by Python, so I just wonder what is left.

Re: Why I use Object Pascal

#187

Post by justin66 » Tue, Oct 17, 2017, 9:22 PM UTC

pulse7 wrote: post #22

Ultibo - the barebone unikernel OS for Raspberry Pi - is written completelly in Object Pascal... it's source code is >>much https://ultibo.org ).

This is strange and wonderful. Thanks for sharing. Somehow I wasn't aware of this, and I follow Raspberry Pi stuff.

Re: Why I use Object Pascal

#188

Post by pjmlp » Tue, Oct 17, 2017, 9:32 PM UTC

klipt wrote: post #180

pjmlp wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They actually are, because Pascal knows the size of its types, while C requires using a mix of sizeof and malloc, which many people still get wrong, specially with arrays.

Of course in C++ you can just use a vector. Object Pascal is certainly closer to C++ than C. The main advantage of Pascal is super fast compilation, but C++ modules should close that gap once they make it into the standard.

Which is why C++ became my next favourite language after Pascal, and I joined the C++ side of the C++ vs C USENET "arguments".

Re: Why I use Object Pascal

#189

Post by Sindisil » Tue, Oct 17, 2017, 9:38 PM UTC

whatyoucantsay wrote: post #139

jandrese wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My High School programming class was taught in Pascal (Turbo Pascal version 3 IIRC). I remember liking it just fine, but when I went to the university I switched to C because everything interesting was written in C. Also, there were no Pascal compilers in the FreeBSD (2.0) ports tree back then. I had a notion that Pascal was a "toy teaching language" too, but for what I was doing that didn't really matter.

You must be 50... and you're still on HN! Are you still an engineer? If so, what stack are you using now?

Checking in as another 50 year old, still on HN, still an "engineer", experienced enough to use tools, not "stack"s.

Admittedly I didn't start with Pascal, but rather with BASIC and several assembly languages (1802, Z80, & 6809 were among the first I used). I learned Pascal after C, actually. I like things about both, but often wish that Wirthian languages would have won out.

FWIW, these days I primarily use Java, C, C++ (when I must), and a smattering of other languages, with libraries and such chosen to match the problem at hand and the environment in which it must be solved.

Re: Why I use Object Pascal

#190

Post by klipt » Tue, Oct 17, 2017, 10:02 PM UTC

pjmlp wrote: post #188

klipt wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course in C++ you can just use a vector. Object Pascal is certainly closer to C++ than C. The main advantage of Pascal is super fast compilation, but C++ modules should close that gap once they make it into the standard.

Which is why C++ became my next favourite language after Pascal, and I joined the C++ side of the C++ vs C USENET "arguments".

Yeah, I loved programming in Delphi back in the day, but I feel like the language isn't evolving much at this point, whereas C++ is a living language (even if it moves bureaucratically slowly) that will eventually have most of the features we want ... plus a bunch of warts we don't really want but have to keep for backwards compatibility :-)