Re: Instant Pascal screenshots

[mdj <mdj.mdj@gmail.com>]

On Aug 16, 8:07 am, "Michael J. Mahon" <mjma...@aol.com> wrote:

> It was the overall limitation in program size and complexity that
> caused me to think of it as a toy, not its implementation technology.
> I realize that putting both ideas into a single sentence obscured my
> meaning.  ;-)

Yeah, sorry about that :-) Such are the harzards of text only
communication ...

> The entire look and feel of the system led me to see it more as a
> "demonstrator" than a real programming environment.  (Though I must
> admit that I originally erroneously saw Logo in the same light.  ;-)

I've always greatly admired the design aesthetic of Papert, el al as
shown through Logo. The pragmatism shown by retaining the purity of a
functional programming language with sensible concessions given to
economy and simplicity of expression is quite inspiring. Of all the
languages I know, this is the only one whose design I would consider
art. It's a shame that the "toy" meme still exists, and that a compact
and cheap implementation didn't become widespread outside the
classroom environment.

The language closest to Logo's aesthetic in common use today is
probably Ruby, but again the underlying beauty and power seems to be
lost on many :-(

Matt