Hi,
We have an extensive code base of Extended Pascal that is in active use commercially, and we will continue development in many years to come. We are using the Prospero compiler, which is still serving our needs. But, as Prospero is Windows-only, gpc has always appeared as the most promising escape route to portability, should we need it. Therefore I am hoping that gpc will find its way into the future.
I have a small contribution to the discussion. Regarding the suggestion of turning gpc into a translator to some other language, I would suggest considering the D programming language as the target language, instead of C++. I have been following the development of D for many years, and have always seen similarities between Extended Pascal and D. Off the top of my head there are nested functions, modules, function argument storage classes, better type safety than C++, dynamic arrays with size information, and fast compilation (especially compared to C++). There may be more similarities. D's template design is also much better than C++'s, as is its approach to const-correctness and its alternative to multiple-inheritance. D is designed to be a better language than C++, and I think it is. I think that of modern languages D is most compatible to the way Pascal programmers like to think (pardon the generalization) and although its syntax is C++-inspired, D might be a good candidate to "take over" from Pascal. If gpc would do a good job at generating readable D code, Pascal programmers could choose to continue writing Pascal or make the switch to D completely and be happy with it.
Some pointers: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D_%28programming_language%29 http://www.digitalmars.com/d/
Good luck, Bastiaan Veelo.
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