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Date: Fri, 3 Jan 2025 14:58:22 -0500
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Subject: Re: VMS Pascal article
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On 1/3/2025 1:51 PM, Dan Cross wrote:
> In article <vl9aln$o72$1@dont-email.me>, Arne Vajhøj  <arne@vajhoej.dk> wrote:
>> On 1/3/2025 1:17 PM, Dan Cross wrote:
>>> In article <67781447$0$711$14726298@news.sunsite.dk>,
>>>> And also fixed in the description of VARYING further up.
>>>
>>> You should seriously mention the STRING type, though.
>>
>> I think VARYING OF CHAR is what is used most in VMS Pascal.
> 
> Weird; I can't imagine why.

I never use string (on VMS).

$ search sys$common:[syshlp.examples.pascal]*.pas varying
$ search sys$common:[syshlp.examples.pascal]*.pas "string("

indicate that whoever write VMS Pascal examples also prefer
varying of char over string.

If I were to guess about why, then I believe it is historic
reasons. varying of char has been there since like forever.
string was added with ISO Pascal support later.

>                             Regardless, it may be worthwhile to
> at least mention it, since you state explicitly that there are
> three types for representing textual, string-like data, but
> VSI's documentation makes it clear that there are actually four.

Good point.

I have updated.

>>> Also, it's a bit of a bummer that you didn't mention nested
>>> functions/procedures, which are among the cooler aspects of the
>>> language:
>>>
>>> $ type foo.pas
>>> (* foo *)
>>> program foo(output);
>>> procedure hello;
>>>       procedure world(var who: String);
>>>           function punct: char;
>>>           begin
>>>               punct := '!'
>>>           end;
>>>       begin
>>>           who := 'World' + punct
>>>       end;
>>> var
>>>       who: String (10);
>>> begin
>>>       world(who);
>>>       writeln('Hello, ', who)
>>> end;
>>> begin
>>>       hello
>>> end.
>>
>> There is already an example. fac is inside testfac.
>>
>> I will add a note about it.
> 
> Ah, I see it now; the lack of indentation makes it hard to spot.

I don't indent them.

With the blank lines I put in then I feel that indenting
nested procedures/functions would make it too much space.

But it is a close decision. In C# I do not use blank lines
and I do indent local methods.

Same code:

using System;

public class Program
{
     public static void TestFac()
     {
         int Fac(int n)
         {
             if(n < 2)
             {
                 return 1;
             }
             else
             {
                 return n * Fac(n - 1);
             }
         }
         for(int i = 0; i < 6; i++)
         {
             Console.WriteLine("fac({0})={1}", i, Fac(i));
         }
     }
     public static void Main(string[] args)
     {
         TestFac();
     }
}

Arne