[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: Instant Pascal screenshots



mdj wrote:
On Aug 15, 5:16 pm, "Michael J. Mahon" <mjma...@aol.com> wrote:


What is the underlying implementation?  Is is Apple Pascal-compatible
p-code, or is it something unique to Instant Pascal?

Perhaps some hacking could be done.  ;-)

I always regarded it as a toy, and suspected it of using a more
"tokenized source" approach, like Applesoft.


Indeed, it's an interpreter - hence "Instant" Pascal.

I don't think it's any more of a "toy" than Applesoft is. It would
have been nice had the interpreter component been kept sufficiently
seperate from the IDE that it could have become a platform. I suspect
however, as I hinted in my previous post, that insufficient machine
resources remained to create anything other than fairly simple
programs, so I suppose the it's only useful for producing "toys" - but
nonetheless a superb educational tool considering the limitations of
the platform.

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.  ;-)

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.  ;-)

-michael

NadaNet file server for Apple II computers!
Home page:  http://members.aol.com/MJMahon/

"The wastebasket is our most important design
tool--and it's seriously underused."