[Info-vax] Pascal question

[Bill Gunshannon]

On 1/21/19 6:56 PM, Dave Froble wrote:
> On 1/21/2019 4:57 PM, John Reagan wrote:
>> On Monday, January 21, 2019 at 4:20:58 PM UTC-5, Arne Vajhøj wrote:
>>> On 1/21/2019 4:05 PM, Bill Gunshannon wrote:
>>>> On 1/21/19 3:41 PM, Arne Vajhøj wrote:
>>>>> On 1/21/2019 1:53 PM, Dave Froble wrote:
>>>>>> On 1/21/2019 1:07 PM, Arne Vajhøj wrote:
>>>>>>> On 1/21/2019 12:00 PM, John Reagan wrote:
>>>>>>>> On Monday, January 21, 2019 at 11:40:02 AM UTC-5, Arne Vajhøj 
>>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>>> On 1/21/2019 11:19 AM, Emilio Moreno wrote:
>>>>>>>>>> Here is another one. upcase
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Weird. I don't seem to be able to find anything better
>>>>>>>>> than:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> str$upcase is about the best you'll get from Pascal.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Maybe it was time to add 25-50 convenience functions to
>>>>>>> VMS Pascal?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> People expect more today. And adding them would show some
>>>>>>> progress. And the effort should not be that big aka low hanging
>>>>>>> fruit.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Or, one can build a library  of often used capabilities ....
>>>>>
>>>>> Of course.
>>>>>
>>>>> But it would be better if the standard language runtime came
>>>>> with such functionality instead of having hundreds of developers
>>>>> each implement their own.
>>>>>
>>>>> It is not like uppercasing is a very special function that
>>>>> only very few need.
>>>>>
>>>>> It is relative common.
>>>>>
>>>>> And many other mostly newer languages certainly has it.
>>>>
>>>> So push the Pascal Standards Committee to add it.  :-)
>>>
>>> Not going to happen.
>>>
>>> But since VMS Pascal already have several extensions compared
>>> to ISO Pascal, then the lack of it in the standard should not
>>> prevent VSI from adding it.
>>>
>>
>> Good point.  Just as soon as a real customer writes that on the back 
>> of a $100 bill, I'll get right on it.  I'll call STR$UPCASE for you. :)
>>
>>
> 
> Why?  Because they are too lazy to do it themselves?
> 
> :-)
> 
> Actually, while at the risk of wasting your valuable time, I'd ask, why 
> would Pascal as implemented by you not already have such a function? 
> Understand, I don't use Pascal.  Was string handling not a featured part 
> of the language?

]The original Pascal as defined by Niklaus Wirth didn't have
a string type at all.

> 
> What type of tasks is / was Pascal aimed at?

Teaching algorithms.  :-)

Actually:

"The development of the language Pascal is based on two principal aims.
The first is to make available a language suitable to teach programming
as a systematic discipline based on certain fundamental concepts clearly
and naturally reflected by the language." -- Niklaus Wirth in His Report

bill